Over the Mountains
by baker0120
Summary: Where the Spine ends a whole new land begins. Known as Altaria to the Empire, it has mostly kept to itself and has never been of interest to King Galbatorix. There has been no known Dragon Rider form Altaria that anyone can remember. That is where one girl named Haven has the chance to change all of Alagaesia. Fem!Eragon OC/Eragon. Very AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** All canon character, concepts and locations belong to Christopher Paolini. All OC's belong to me and nothing else.

 **I first posted this story months ago but stopped updating it because I didn't like the way it was going. I took some time and rewrote my previous chapters. I am slowly updating them and hope everyone likes the new twist to it. Thank you to everyone who has given this story a shot and it would be great if people could review and tell me what they think and ask any questions they have!**

Chapter 1

Looking around him, Kierin couldn't see anything off about the forest that surrounded him and his stead. They were racing through the trees to get to their next destination safe and sound. Not knowing what was spooking his horse, but not doubting that it was something troubling, he urged him even further into the trees.

All of the sudden, arrows started to fly at him from several directions, spurring him on pushing his horse even faster. Looking for a way to lose his attackers, he turned to the left and into a clearing. Stopping abruptly, watching the edges of the trees burst into flames, Kierin tried to find a way out but instead watched as someone walked through the flames. A tall male with flowing scarlet hair and blood red eyes comes toward him with a smirk dancing on his face.

As he realizes who he is, Kierin feels his heart start to pump faster and anger mixed with fear run through his veins, "Durza," Kierin snarls at him.

Durza just continues to smirk at him ad says, "I have been looking for you for a very long time elf."

Slowly walking toward him, Durza outstretches his hand. "Give it to me and I won't hurt you as much."

"Never," Kierin says, quickly reaching into the bag on his back, he grabs a big sapphire blue stone and holds it over his head, "Premjestiti odavde," Kierin says as he looks straight at Durza. As the stone vanishes in a bright light, Kierin falls of his horse and starts to gasp for air.

He watches as Durza strides towards him with fury clearly on his face and demands, "Where is it?"

Panting for breath, Kierin glances at Durza and says, "You'll never find it."

"Bol!" Durza says.

Kierin feels as if liquid fire had been poured into his veins for a few seconds before vanishing. Over the rushing of blood in his ears, he hears Durza say, "Get used to that feeling elf. You will be feeling it for some time now."

In another part of this land, a girl walks through a forest just before the sun was to set, silently watching everything move around her. Her name is Haven and she lives in a land named Altaria. Altaria is located at the border of the Spine, a forest that even the mad King Galbatorix dares not even cross. The Spine is told to have made men lose their minds and even their lives.

Haven glances around as she walks through the foggy ground always cautious of the forest. She has her bow drawn just waiting for the perfect moment to get a kill shot of the eight point she is hunting down. Just as she takes her shot and shots the deer through the eye, a bright light flares feet from her and momentarily blinds her. When her vision starts to clear and she can see the scene around her, she notices a big blue stone sitting not five feet in front of her.

Gathering stock of her situation, she first goes to the deer and ties it up, getting it ready to move back to her camp. After that is done, she slowly walks over to the stone studying its surface knowing it looks familiar and wondering why it would appear out of thin air. Reaching down, she wraps it in her jacket and places it in her bag vowing to have a closer look once in a safer place.

Once back at the cave she had procured for the last week, she sends out a mental call and takes the time to cut up the deer and make a stew for the night and start to preserve whatever meat that was left over. While the stew started to cook, she took the stone out of the bag and slowly unwraps it from her jacket. Taking the time to study it, she gently slides her finger down the smooth surface admiring the beautiful color.

Hearing a sound outside, she looks up in time to see her dragon of two years landing at the mouth of the cave.

"Ryszard," she greets him, "Look what I found."

The bright silver dragon is tall in stature and barely fits through the mouth of the cave. The light from the fire illuminates his scales and makes them appear a burnt orange color. His purple eyes lock onto the object in her lap and starts to slowly walk forward, studying the small egg in confusion.

After a moment, Ryszard asks, "You just found it lying in the middle of the forest?"

"No," she exasperatedly says, "It appeared in a bright flash of light. I think someone sent it with magic."

He sharply looks up at her, "Someone sent it?" he asks, "Why do you think that?"

"That's what it seems like. It certainly looked as if it appeared by magic," she told him. After a moment she wondered aloud, "But why would they?"

After imagining all the scenarios that could have sent it their way, Ryszard finally says, "It does us no good to ponder on something we may never know."

Slightly slumping down and realizing the truth in his words, Haven answers, "I suppose. We might as well get some sleep for the journey back."

When she wakes up in the morning it is to a slightly brisk breeze coming through the mouth of the cave. Stretching and then getting up, she takes out her two swords and starts to sharpen them. While her hands methodically run down the blade of her sword, her mind starts to wonder about the egg that is safely packed away in her bag. Someone must have been desperate to get rid of it for them to just send it to the middle of a dangerous forest. Pursing her lips, she moves on to her other sword. 'Maybe they didn't mean for it to end up here though,' she thought, 'Maybe their spell went wrong.' That thought stopped her hands in their tracks. For if that was true, the person would most likely be in grave danger from either someone else or themselves, and seeing as it appeared in a deserted haunted forest, it probably wasn't good news for the person that sent it away. Remembering Ryszard's words from last night she puts all theories to the back of her mind and goes back to the task of sharpening her weapons. Finishing with her swords, she moves on to her daggers and arrows. When all her weapons are sharpened and cleaned, she sets them aside and starts to do stretches and exercises to help strengthen and loosen up her muscles.

When she finally starts to feel relaxed, she hears Ryszard say in her mind, "So what shall we do about the egg?"

Sighing, she starts to slow down her breathing while pondering on the question, "For now we will have to take it with us back to my home. I don't like it but I can't think on another course at this moment. We are to far away from the palace and people are expecting me back in town soon. "

Shifting onto his feet, Ryszard shakes out his stiffness and walks towards her, "Yes that seems to be the only course for us now. But do you think it wise?"

A bubble of laughter breaks through her lips as she sarcastically asks, "When do I think anything wise?"

With an exasperated yet amused lilt to his voice, Ryszard replied, "Never."

On the journey back to Haven's hometown they discuss what they think would be the best course of action for them for the on coming months. Knowing spring was just around the corner, they made plans to go to an old palace in the mountains Haven had found Ryszard's egg years ago to hide away the egg so that it would be out of the clutches of anyone looking for power over those they had no claim.

When they were a day's walk from Sindaul, the town Haven lived in, they stopped at the small hut she had built to hold things she didn't want the people of her town to question. It consisted of one room which held a small fire stove,a small table with two chairs and a cot pushed against the wall with a large bare wall opposite it. Concealed behind the wall was a closet that held whatever she wanted to be kept hidden. Leaving the egg in a corner of the closet under a chair that held a couple bags she used to pack things to put on Ryszard's saddle, she turned towards Ryszard and says, "I will try to come back sometime tomorrow, though that might not be possible," Walking over to him, she reaches out and scratches the scales on his neck, "You can talk to me anytime you like. I most likely won't be able to answer but I do love to hear your voice when you allow me."

Sinking down more so that she could reach more scales, he opens an eye and looks back at her, "We may be far in distance, but never far in heart little one. Never forget that."

The words bring a smile to her face, "Never," she replied, "I'll be back soon. Don't have too much fun without me now."

"Always, little one. Safe travels," he says as Haven starts walking in the direction to town.

Throwing a smirk over her shoulder, she says, "Now don't get too lonely, I might just have to come back early."

When she had just reached the edge of the town after about twenty minutes of walking she could see two small figures racing towards her.

"Haven! You're back. We've been waiting for you for days now," racing towards her they stop just in front of her.

Seeing as it was just one of her neighbors kids, she bends down to hug them, and asks, "Does your mother know where you are?" knowing that they are notorious for skipping out on their chores.

They both look at each other and innocently shake their heads. I let out an exasperated sigh and cross my arms as I ask them, "Know that isn't nice, is it? You should go back home and see if she needs your help."

Nodding their heads rapidly, they exclaim, "Okay, bye," as they run away.

Starting the walk along the streets towards my house, my mind wonders to the egg in our possession and all the mysteries surrounding it. As I am walking up to my front door I hear, "Haven, come over here!"

Looking over, I see Brom, an old story teller that lives a house down from mine. Walking towards his house, I think over all the years that I have known Brom and I couldn't find a thing about him that had changed in all of the 18 years we have known each other. He still had that salt and pepper hair and the bright blue eyes that feel like they see right through you. All and all he still looks like a forty year old man.

"Will you have a cup of tea with me?" he asked me. Walking into his house all you could see where books and knick-knacks littering every nook and crany. "How was your latest journey?" he asks as he gets everything together for the tea.

"Not bad. I got some game and found some interesting things. I've certainly had worse trips." I say, thinking for a second about the egg hidden in my hut, I ask, "Anything amiss while I was gone?"

Handing me a cup of tea, he takes a seat and stirs around his drink, "Unless you count some strange people lurking around and looking out of place, not really," he says while looking at me over the top of his cup.

"Strange you say," I perk up and my head tilts to the side, "Any idea what they are looking for?"

"When did I say they were looking for anything?" he asks me while standing and starts to pack a bag of clothes and a couple scrolls and books.

Watching him and wondering about his weird behavior I tell him, "You really didn't have to say anything, the way you are acting is proof enough." Standing up, I start to follow him throughout his house, watching as he picks up a sword and straps a belt around his waist. Feeling weary now, I contact Ryszard with my mind and ask, "What are you not telling me?"

He abruptly turns around and fixes me with a stare and says, "It's about time you call out to your dragon. We need to leave immediately but not cause a stir. We don't want to attract attention."

Lifting an eyebrow, I let a grin cross my face, "I always wondered when you would notice. How long have you known?"

He starts to move around again, grabbing my bag and handing it to me and says, "About a year now. I have no idea how you kept something like that a secret for so long," he says in fond exasperation.

We move over to my house and I grab a couple bags that I always have packed just for emergencies. I look around my little house once in more, trying to memorize every little nook and cranny there was for I knew that I wouldn't be seeing this place for a long time if ever.

As we were walking along the dark and quiet street now, heading towards the forest of the Spine, Brom mutters, "Though knowing you, if you really wanted something to stay a secret, no living soul would know the truth but you."

Pursing my lips, I think back to all the times my voice alone had made people do whatever I please. Back when I was young, I had thought people had wanted what I wanted. As I grew up, I noticed people saying one thing and then when I would speak up they would all of the sudden believe whatever I had said. At first I would go along with everyone and try to influence the people around me. After a while, I had come to realise that what I was doing wasn't right, but I had no idea how to stop them from following me blindly as if they had no choice. I had resorted to not talking when I didn't have to and when I did I would be very short with everyone. That all changed when Brom had moved into town. My uncle Garrow, my cousin Roran and I had walked over to his house to introduce ourselves. When we had arrived and it was my turn, I had looked at Brom and said, "Hello, my name is Haven. It's nice to meet you." He blinked at me for a couple seconds and frowned a little and then said, "Hello, it's nice to meet you as well."

When we were leaving, he had given me a book to read, I told him that I couldn't read. He immediately asked Garrow if he could teach Roran and I. Garrow had said that he needed Roran to work in the fields with him, but that I could come during the day to learn. When I had come back the next day, to my surprise, we were not learning to read, but learning something else. He took a long look at me when we had sat down and said, "Why do you make people believe you with your voice?"

I gasped and froze up, for this man knew what I could do. I told him, "I don't want to but they just do it. I've never been able to talk to somebody without making them believe me."

He sat there for awhile, I guess studying how truthful I was being and finally said, "I could help you so that they wouldn't blindly follow you."

Immediately accepting the offer, he had taught me many things from that day forward. He taught me how to read and speak different languages, such as english spoken by the people on the other side of The Spine and the ancient language spoken by the elves, he taught me how to expand and open my mind to control the magic in my voice so that I would not have absolute control over this strange power of mine.

For all that he had taught me, for someone as young as I had been at the time, I could not help but lose control one fateful evening when I was young and Garrow thought I didn't need to go over to Brom's anymore and had to start working around the farm. I had gotten upset and let all my lessons on control go out the window. I had yelled at him, "I won't stop, you can't make me! I hate you, I wish you were dead!" Just like any 8 year old would. I had run over to Brom's and not looked I had come back that evening after my lesson with Brom, I had walked into our house waiting for a lecture with Garrow, dreading it. As I walked in, I noticed how calm and quiet it was. Walking into the back kitchen, I lit the candle we had on the table and noticed a note. It had read, "I am sorry that you hate me so. All I wanted was more time with you while you grew up. I will love you forever," it was written in Garrow's hand. Turning around I came to a stand still and let out a scream for there was Garrow, with a nose around his neck hanging from a beam, looking at me with dead eyes.

From that day onward Roran and I had lived with Brom. About 2 years later I had woken one morning and learned that Roran had left during the night without telling either of use and would never return back to the town. A couple of months of waiting for him to come back had passed when I had decided I would travel the land for some time. I had been gone for four months the first time when I had returned. I would follow this routine for years to come, I would stay with Brom and teach the children in the town how to read and write our language and english, but I would never teach them the Ancient Language for Brom had asked me not to. When I was 15 years old, I had decided that I had enough money for a house of my own and had moved to a home beside Brom's so that we would not be too far from each other. It was not for another year that I would discover Ryszard's egg and he would hatch for me. It was in that journey that I would discover a long abandoned palace carved into the mountains that which held hundreds of dragon eggs and old dragon's eldunari, it also held many weapons and clothes from those long forgotten. One day when I had first discovered it, I had gone to take a bath in a big lake the palace surrounded I had thought of how nice it would feel like to be able to swim like the fish that surrounded me. All of the sudden I had grown a big fish tail in place of my legs. The dragons had explained to me that that was why my voice could control others, I was someone known as a siren. It was something very rare for these lands and they had not heard of one in hundreds of years. Learning this had helped me come to terms that I was not some freak and was very special indeed. When I had come back from that trip with all of my new weapons, Brom had decided to teach me his method of fighting. He had taught me how to use the two swords I had chosen for I only knew how to use one at a time. The throwing knives I had been taught how to use many years before and the chakram I had learned from the memory of a dragon in the palace and the bow I had known how to use for many years before switching to the one I had found in the palace. In the years since Ryszard had hatched for me, nothing had really changed except that I could use magic now. Every once in awhile I would go back to the palace I had learned actually has a name that was Palace of Mystery. The eldunari would teach us what it means to be a dragon and a rider. We never thought it was a good idea to bring the eldunari out of the palace because of the huge amount of power each and every one possessed.

I knew that Brom would one day discover Ryszard, I had always thought that he would take one look at me and know. When he didn't say anything for months I just kept it hidden and waited for the day he would. Now that it had I wish it could have been different I would like to sit down and talk to him about Ryszard and all of the places we had been to and the things we had done together.

As we reached the trees I looked back for once thankful I had nothing of value left in my house that I would miss. For I knew that I would most likely never see this place again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When we had reached the small hut, I told Ryszard it was okay to land in front of Brom. When he landed he looked straight at Brom and said to me, "So this is the mysterious Brom I have heard about for years on end," turning to look at me he asked, "Please tell him I am honored to finally meet him."

Turning to Brom, I tell him, "This is Ryszard, he says he is honored to finally meet you."

Lifting an eyebrow, Brom replies, "It is me that is honored to meet you Ryszard. It has always been a dream of mine to see a dragon before I passed away," finally turning to me, "Where did you find his egg?" he asks in pure bewilderment.

"Somewhere hidden in the mountains, it was carved into the side of the mountain and is filled with many mysteries. It is where I found my weapons," I reply, "We need to decide what to do know that there are people looking for me. I am guessing they are from the Empire or you wouldn't be acting this way, correct?"

"Yes," he confirms, "I believe they are Ra'zac, they work for King Galbatorix," taking a look around him, he asks, "Have you ever heard of the Varden?"

As we move into the hut to take a seat at the small table, I think of the small mutterings and large conversations I had overheard in my travels of Altaria. Ryszard lays his head by the outside wall so that he can look inside the room through the window. "I have heard of the Varden, some bad things, but mostly good. They are a rebellion group that fights against the rule of Galbatorix. They do everything they can to overturn him but do not have the outright power to do so. Why? Do you wish to go to them?"

Sighing, Brom runs a hand through his hair and replies, "It is an option. Probably the most likely one. Do you have anything against it?" He turns to look me in the eye and then Ryszard.

Asking Ryszard in my mind, "Do you think it is wise we go? We would be giving up our freedom to go wherever we want, when we want to."

"We would, but thinking about all of the lives we could help and save makes me want to go straight there. We have always talked about fighting against Galbatorix and getting the revenge for all the Dragon's and their riders lives that we could. This is just an opportunity to do so," he says completely right.

"Okay, now that we have decided we are going, should we show Brom the blue egg?" I ask him.

As Ryszard turns to look at Brom trying to judge his character, I think of all the times I have trusted Brom and how he never betrayed my trust. Seeing this, he says, "Yes, I think we should. But only about this one not the others. That should be later after he has proven we can trust him with one,"

Looking at Brom, I can't help but smile as I say, "We will follow you to the Varden. But there is something you must see before we leave."

Frowning, Brom asks, "It's not far is it? I would like to leave as soon as possible. I don't want the Ra'zac to pick up on our trail."

"No it is here with us," I tell him as I stand up and walk over to the closet. Sitting right where I last placed it, is the egg. Picking it up and slowly turning around, I show it to Brom.

Startled as I have ever seen him, he abruptly stands up and moves over to me. "Where did you find it?" he asks in an almost scared voice, "This week when I was hunting," I reply, "I had just shot a stag when this bright light blinded me. When my vision cleared, there it was, sitting harmlessly on the forest floor besides the stag."

Running his hand over the egg, he asks me, "Can I hold it?"

There was such a longing in his voice that I had to let him. He took it with a gentleness that would make you would think it was a newborn.

Ryszard wonders, "It looks as if he has seen the egg before."

Indeed when I look closely at Brom, his eyes have a certain sheen of recognition in them as they gaze at the egg. "You've seen it before, haven't you."

Surprised, he looks up at both of us and says, "Yes, I have," sighing he hands me back the egg. I place it in a bag I grabbed from the closet I will be taking with me on our trip. He continues saying, "This changes everything. That egg was stolen from the King by the Varden many years ago. It has been taken all over Alagaesia in search of a rider to help the Varden's cause. The person carrying it is the elves ambassador to the Varden. It is worrying that he would send it away. The only reason he would do so would be because he was trapped."

Frowning at his words and taking everything he told me in, I ask, "Why does this change everything?"

"If Galbatorix gets inside the mind of that elf, he would know everything he would need to overthrow the Varden and maybe the elves as well. I can not leave him in there possession," he says while thinking things over.

"Well it looks like we are going on the hunt for an elf now," Ryszard says as he picks himself up and goes to take a drink from the small pond by the hut.

"Okay, where would they be holding the elf prisoner?" I ask, standing to retrieve the bags of supplies I would be bringing on the journey. "We should not tarry while time slips away."

After a moment of silent deliberation, Brom says, "I believe they would be keeping him in Gilead. It houses the most secure prison in most of the Empire. That would probably be the best bet."

As we walk outside, I strap all of the bags to Ryszard's saddle and climb up. Looking down at Brom standing on the ground, "Are you waiting for an invitation? We have a long journey ahead of us."

Huffing out a laugh, Brom climbs up the side of Ryszard and straps in, "I never thought I would be sitting in one of these on top of a dragon. How did your make it?"

As Ryszard takes off I answer him in our minds, "In a small village by the coast there was an old man selling saddles. I asked him how he made them and for a couple months he taught me how. I am not perfect still to this day, but I think it is sturdy enough for 2 people to sit upon and ride. It also is comfortable for Ryszard so we have no problem with it."

For the next couple hours we fly in silence. As Brom takes in the scenes of the Spine on a dragon's back, Ryszard and I talk about all that has happened in the last few hours that has most likely changed both of our lives forever.

"Do you think we made the right choice to follow Brom today?" he asks me, "Do you think he is as trustful as he seems?"

"One thing I have learned about Brom is that everything is rarely as it seems. But I do trust him. I might go as far to say that I trust my life in his hands. He took me in when I had nobody left and Roran abandoned me. He could have kicked me to the streets, but he always accepted me with open arms and no judgement," letting out a sigh that was taken by the wind, I run my hand along his scales while I think on his other question, "I do think we made the right choice today in following him. We have always said we would fight against the Empire if given a means to do so and this just happens to be it."

"Yes, you are right. I will miss the freedom to just leave everything behind and go explore something new whenever we have the urge to do so," he says wistfully.

"Then just think of this as a new adventure. We are about to go into new territory for the both of us. Neither of us has been on the other side of the Spine before," I think as we glide through the mountains and watch the streams go by, knowing that we wouldn't be seeing these lands for a long time.

As we set up camp that night, I ask Brom, "How long do you think the journey will be to Gilead if we fly there?"

As he takes the time to think over this, I start making a fire for us to keep warm during the night and to gives some more light as the sun goes down. "Probably ten days, maybe more. It is hard to say for I have never flown between the two cities. I am going to go get us dinner. I won't be gone long." He takes off into the forest with his bow and arrow as I go around and pick a few herbs and berries from the surrounding area.

Once he is back, he quickly skins the two squirrels he caught and puts them over the fire to roast. "Tell me, how is your magic coming along?"

Looking over at him, I answer in the ancient language, "Not bad. I have gotten better from a year ago. I know my limits and what I can achieve. I have been trying to do things with less words to get more control over them. Every night I put energy in the gems I have."

He looks satisfied with my answer, "Good, keep doing that. How is your bond between the two of you," he asks.

Looking into Ryszard's eyes, I think of the last two years and what we have gone through together and all that we have shared. There is nothing we do not know about the other. "There is nothing we keep to ourselves. Everything is shared between us. Every thought, every feeling, nothing is left out. Wherever we are, apart or together, we know what is happening to each other. I could tell you there is a fly by his ear that is bothering him and he wants to stretch his tail out just this much more. He says he can tell that I can't wait for the food to be done and that I would really like a bath right about now. Nothing escapes our attention about the other."

"Good," he replies, "Let us eat and then sleep. I would like to leave early tomorrow morning."

Sleep that night came easy. When I awoke and started to get up, Ryszard lifted his head and I told him, "I'm just going to take a bath. I will be back soon," and he laid his head back down.

On my way back from the small river that was only thirty or so yards from where we had set up camp, I arrive at the camp feeling refreshed to see everything packed and ready to go. Brom handed me some bread and cheese to eat and I handed him the waterskins I had filled up at the river. "Let us go," he said, "The skies are clear at the moment. Hopefully they shall stay that way."

Over the next few days, this was the routine. Waking up, eating breakfast, packing and flying for the day, to only stop at night for some sleep. I would practise speaking the ancient language and my control on my magic while in the air to pass some of the time away. On the eleventh day of this routine, we were almost to Gilead during the daytime. We landed about an hour away from any civilization as we had decided to wait until dark to sneak into the city, so that we would not be noticed as easily.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When the time came to make our way into Gilead, we left all of our bags with Ryszard and both of the bows. If I needed to take someone out from far away, I had my throwing knives. Ryszard would stay on the ground unless we had a real need for him as we wanted to keep him a secret for as long as possible. Brom and I made our way into the city with our hoods up, trying to not draw attention. Walking with the flow of the crowd, we didn't come across a problem getting into the city. Once we had passed the gates, we heard a shout, "Hey, you two, stop there!" Looking at each other, I let him know I would handle it in his mind.

Turning to the two guards walking towards us, Brom asked, "Can we help you?"

The guards looked at us with a frown on their faces, one of them said, "We've never seen you two before. What be your business in Gilead?"

I take a step towards them placing a smile on my face and let my power float through my voice, "Nothing's the matter. We live here and always come and go. We are regulars that you see every week."

"Of course, my mistake, good to see you again. Hope you had a good day today!" the other guard said as they walk away back to their stations.

As we continue our way to the center of the city where the prison was, Brom asks me, "Are you okay doing that?"

Thinking it over before I answer him, I really think over how I feel after having done it after so much time, "Yes, I am. What scared me before was that I had no power over it. It had power over me. Now that I am in control, I have come to accept it."

"Good," he replies and offers me a small smile, "I am glad that you have come to accept it as a part of you."

Continuing to walk through the city, all that I can think of, is how happy I am of the fact that I didn't grow up in a city here in the Empire. The gutters were filled with filth, the houses were all run down and everyone looked stressed and ragged. As I look toward the prison, I begin to think on how we can get in. The best bet would be to use my power, but where would we enter, that was what I kept asking myself. "Do you know anywhere we can enter?" I ask Brom.

"There is a side entrance used by staff and guards changing shifts." he says as he looks at two guards that walk by us, "That is where we will enter. It is just around the corner."

As we walk around the corner, we see a door that if you didn't know to look for, you wouldn't notice it. It was the same color as the prison wall and had a grove you could pull for the handle. As we walk towards the guard in front of it, I take the lead. Both of the guards look over towards me, I put on a dazzling smile and say, "Hello, we are staff in the kitchen. Open the door for us please."

The guard gulps and after a moment starts to try to open the door while still staring at me dazed. Once he has it open, I tell him, "Thank you, sir," when we are through the door and into a small hallway, Brom turns to me with a lifted eyebrow and says, "Overdo it a bit?"

Smirking, I turn and follow him down into the prison and say, "If you call making his day overdoing it, than yes I overdid it."

Snorting, Brom throws me a look as he gets his sword out and has it at the ready. Grabbing a knife we look down another hallway and see guards walking the opposite direction. Turning to go the other way, we see a row of doors. Opening the first we see a room that looks like it could be a break room. Backing out, we try the next door, which turns out to be an armory. As we look around, something in the corner catches my eye. Tapping Brom on the shoulder and walking farther in, I see a bow and arrows and a sword that look nothing like the others surrounding them. Brom picks them up and turns toward me nodding his head and confirming that the elf was at least here at some point. Thinking about it now, I had never asked for the elf's name. Asking Brom in our minds what his name is, he replies that his name is Kierin.

Moving on, the next room looks like a medical room. It has a cabinet of poisons and antidotes scattered around. Looking through them, I grab a couple of each just in case we ever have a need for them. After that, we decide to take stairs up to the next level. Once up there, we see more rows of doors. These doors have bars on them and look like they are cells. As we reach the first door and look in, we hear a group of guards come up the hall behind us. Ducking down and into an open door, we wait until we can't hear them anymore before walking out and down the hall. After checking all the cells and finding no elf, we reach the last one. In there we see a lone figure sitting in the corner leaning against the wall. I say, "Otvoren," the door opens and walk into the cell. As we get closer, the person lifts up his head and I get my first look at the elf. I see a man with black hair and slanted green eyes. Brom rushes toward him as I watch the hallway, trying to give them some form of privacy.

"Haven," I hear Brom say. When I turn towards him, he is helping Kierin stand up. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

I nod at him and tell Ryszard to be at the ready. As I take the lead, a lone guard walks around the corner before he could yell out, I throw my knife straight into his eye. Quietly walking up to him, I yank it out and wipe it off on his clothes. Looking around me, I see Kierin leaning against Brom heavily as if all his strength has fled him. Standing back up, we walk down the stairs until we get to the hall with the exit. As we turn, I see a group of five guards walking towards us. I quickly threw the knife still in my hand and grab the dagger I have strapped to my lower back and the chakram on my upper back, I quickly make do with the second guard as I slash his throat open. Turning around quickly, I duck out of the way of a sword and slash at a guards knees, making him fall down where I quickly stab him in the heart. The last two hesitate a little, but one comes running at me with his sword held high. I widen my stance and bring my dagger up to meet his blade and slash my chakram across his stomach. Seeing the last guard running for it, I bring out another throwing knife and stick it straight into the back of his skull. When I am done, I quickly go and retrieve the knives that are still in the two guards. Putting them away, I look over at Brom and Kierin to see Brom looking at me with a raised eyebrow and asks, "Couldn't you have been a little bit cleaner?"

Letting out a huff of laughter, I reply wryly, "When is death ever clean?"

When we get to the door, I stop and turn to Brom. "Now what do we do?" I ask him.

He leans over me and knocks on the door five times. The same guard opens the door and lets us out. I turn to him and say, "Everything is fine. There was three of us when we went in. He is just a little drunk. You know how it is, just got dumped by his lady."

He smiles at me and says, "Of course there was, I hope you get him into a bed soon."

Turning we start making our way down the street. Brom contacts me in my mind and leads us out of the city. Once to the gate, I tell the guards the same thing and they believe we came in with three and they let us go with no problem.

As we walk away and towards the camp, I drop back and give my shoulder to the elf to help us move faster. Whispering, I say, "sakrij pjesme," looking back and watching our tracks disappear. By the time we arrive back to our camp about a mile away from Gilead, all three of us are struggling to stand. We sit Kierin down against a tree. Bending down next to him, I ask, "Did they drug you?"

He glances at Brom and then back at me, "Yes, they gave me Skilna Bragh. The only antidote is in there, the Varden, and Ellesmera." It looked as if even saying that was a hard for him because he was rather short of breath at the end.

Furrowing my brow, I grab my bag and lay out all of the poisons and antidotes I had grabbed just in case I had a need for them. Looking at all of them I see the most clear bottle of them all. Picking it up, I remember the name as being Tunivor's Nector. Turning to Kierin, I ask him, "Is the antidote Tunivor's Nector?"

With a surprised look, he nods his head. Moving over to him, I unplug the antidote and give it to Brom, "Hear this is one of the bottles I had grabbed back in the prison."

Brom helped him tilt his head back so that he could take the antidote. Helping him lean back on the tree, I look at the blood leaking through his shirt and ask him, "Do you want me to heal some of your wounds? Now that the poison isn't going to kill you, those just might."

He watches me for a couple seconds and then barely dips his head down, giving me a nod to heal him. I look at Brom and say, "Help me get his shirt off. I need a better look at what was done to him before I start."

As he helps to push Kierin forward, I slowly lift his arms to slide the shirt over his head. Once we have it off, I can see the full extent of his torture. There are whipping wounds all over, burns running up his arms and slashes from blades all over his chest. Letting out a breath, I start to run a damp cloth lightly over the wounds trying to get dirt and sweat out of them before I start to heal them up. Realising we never had the chance to introduce ourselves, I softly say, "My name is Haven, we never really had the chance to introduce ourselves before. I know this is going to hurt but please try to stay still."

"Kierin, thank you for saving me," he says. Not suspecting an answer, I look up and see him looking straight at me. I let a small smile come to my lips as I begin to heal his wounds.

After about ten minutes, I am just about done. The only thing I can't get rid of are the slashes he has from some kind of blade. Running my finger over one, I frown and wonder why it won't go away. "He used a cursed blade for those. They will never fade away," Kierin says while looking where my finger is.

Pulling back, I ask him, "Is there anything else I can do for you right now? We need to get going. I have no doubt they already know you are gone."

He thinks for a moment and says to Brom, "Do you have an extra shirt?"

Brom helps him put on the shirt while I move back and call out towards Ryszard, "Kierin hasn't seen you yet, has he?"

He replied, "No, I stayed in the shadows when I sensed another presence," He walks out of the trees and lays down for us to climb up him. Turning towards the men, I see Kierin with wide eyes looking at Ryszard. Letting Brom explain the situation to Kierin, I make sure everything is put away and tied up that we had laying around. When I finish, I turn towards them both and see Brom helping Kierin up off the floor, I guess he is still very weak from everything that has gone on the past week and a half. Stepping forward, I jump and climb up into the saddle and reach down to help pull Kierin up behind me. Once everyone is situated, Ryszard takes off into the sky as gently as he can so as not to hurt Kierin anymore, blending in with the clouds.

After we take flight, I reach out with my mind to Kierin, when I make contact I feel walls immediately go up. I wait patiently for him to accept me and when he finally does, I tell him, "You can go to sleep. We will wake you up when we land, but that will not be for awhile now."

Before I can fully retract out of his mind, I hear a quiet,"Thank you."

We finally land as the sun is barely peaking over the horizon, I softly wake the two men that had fallen asleep during the ride. "We have landed, I am going to start to set up the camp," I tell them. Helping Kierin get down from Ryszard, I look at his face and see that more color is starting to come to his face. Stepping over to the bags, I untie one and grab some bread and cheese and hand it to him and say, "Eat that. It will make you feel better," Moving and setting up the camp takes only minutes. Ryszard lets me know that he is going to go off to hunt and leaves. As we sit down to eat Brom says, "Now we have to decide where to go."

Kierin slowly lowers his remaining food and thinks about what he should do. "The elves and the Varden probably think me dead by now. The best option would be to go to the Varden first. They need to know there is a traitor in their mists. For nobody save them knew of my destination and where I would be," He says.

Brom nods and says, "But who could it be that is the traitor? Everyone is tested before they enter."

They are quiet for sometime trying to figure this puzzle out before I say, "Isn't it obvious?" looking at them. They turn to me and Brom makes a gesture as if to say 'well get on with it'. "Who is there that doesn't get tested? The testers."

Both of their eyes widen in realisation and as they look at each other they say, "The twins." Brom frowns down at the fire and says, "I never did like them, but there was no option, we had to let them in," sighing, he looks at Kierin who is frowning at the fire. "They will be under the rule of Ajihad. He will have the say on their punishment. No matter what you feel they deserve."

Letting out a breath, Kierin replies, "Yes, I know. I do not like it but I will let him decide their fate." Turning towards me, he asks, "How did you figure it out? For years we had pondered on who the spy could be."

Looking at them both, I raise an eyebrow and say, "Maybe because I do not have an emotional attachment to the Varden as you both seem too. To me it was pretty obvious. Put yourself in a position where you will never get caught and always place the blame on others and direct it off of you."

Brom chuckles and shakes his head and says, "Sometimes the way your mind works scares me. Impresses for sure, but also scares me."

Shrugging my shoulders and pursing my lips, I decide to change the conversation so I ask, "So what route do you want to take to get to Farthen Dur?"

Sighing in exasperation, Brom runs a hand through his hair and asks me, "How do you even know where the Varden is? You know what, I don't even want to know." He pulls out a scroll that he had taken from his house before leaving and spreads it out. "The best way to get to Farthen Dur if we want to avoid as much of the Empire as possible right now, would be to go through the Hadarac Desert and into the Beor Mountains," he said as he traced the path with his finger. As he finished talking Ryszard lands and moves over to lay his head down behind me so that I could scratch his scales. He keeps his eyes open and trained on Kierin. He asks me, "Tell him my name and that I hope he is well."

Turning more towards Kierin, I say, "This is Ryszard. He hopes that you are feeling better."

Kierin turns his eyes toward Ryszard and says, "It is lovely to meet you Ryszard. I am Kierin and yes I am feeling better from a few days ago." He paused and asked me, "Do you mind me asking how you came across Ryszard's egg?"

Laughing, I think back to that day that changed my life, "I was off exploring the mountains in the Spine. I came across a huge gate carved into a trench that towered at least 20 feet above me. I walked through them and followed a path towards a waterfall. I had decided to take a swim and ended up under the waterfall because it didn't look that strong. It led to a cave in the back, so I followed it down and after a while when I came to the other side, it opened up to a beautiful abandoned palace that was carved into the side of a mountain. I decided to stay there for a while to explore it and find out everything I could about it. The next day, I happened across a long spiral staircase carved into the ground leading down. At the bottom, was a door with no handle. Every day I would come back to puzzle over the door. On the last day before I was going to leave, I decided to try again. I was walking down the stairs when I happened to look up and read a script carved into the ceiling. It read 'Der Palast der Geheimnisse ist die Antwort' which means 'the palace of mysteries is the answer'. I read it aloud and heard a clicking sound. Going to explore, a saw that the door with no handle had opened. Sitting in the middle of the room on a pedestal, was what I thought to be a ball of metal. I walked into the room farther and reached out to touch the ball, wondering why such a strange thing, such as a ball of metal, would be in the center of a room on a pedestal as if the most valuable thing in the world. I ran my hand down the ball and picked it up. I brought it with me to the room I had been staying in and went to sleep. Sometime during the night, I woke up to a shattering sound and there was Ryszard. Rolling around trying to stand up. That was two years ago. Since then, we have been inseparable."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

That night as I was standing watch over the camp, I lean back and observe my surroundings. The peaceful hills with sparse clumps of trees and bushes, the cloudless starry night and the light breeze lifting my hair up softly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a movement that resembles the fluttering of a cloak. Focussing more of my attention to the lands around me, I see a different movement just in my line of sight on the other side of me. Waking Brom up and telling him in his mind that we are being surrounded by at least two people and he should let Kierin know, I act as if I have not noticed anything out of sorts.

Moving over so that I am standing closer to him, I act like I am looking for something in my bag so as to not give us away. Moving back over to my original post, I see something creeping up behind Brom. Deciding that it was close enough, I throw one of my knives. To my surprise, the figure seems to know it is coming at him and moves very quickly and almost avoids my blade. It hits him in the shoulder and stays there. He doesn't let out a yell, but an unearthly sound that I thought was clicking noises. Taking out another blade, I take aim and try to predict where he will move. Throwing it to the right and downwards I manage to hit him in the leg. It slows him down, so I take a moment to figure out what else is going on around me. Brom and Kierin are taking on the other person together and look like they are on even ground. Pulling my full attention to the one I am fighting against, I let another knife fly to distract him from trying to take the other ones out of himself. One after the other I throw at him and all of them just barely graze him. Knowing that I am hitting him is not giving me any satisfaction.

I suppose they were thinking that we wouldn't pose such a threat to them because they started to click and clack at each other and pulled away at the same time. As they were running away, I pull out another knife and throw it at their retreating backs. It sinks into one of their backs. While not a fatal blow, it will slow them down some so that they would not be able to track us as fast as they seem to have done.

Turning to the others, I take stock of how they are and my body. Seeing and feeling that everything was fine and not broken, I contact Ryszard and reassure him I am fine. He lets me know he is only minutes away from me. Turning, I ask, "Everyone good?"

Brom looks at me and says, "Yes, and you?"

Moving around and picking up things that were knocked over during the fight, I reply, "Good, Ryszard is almost back from his hunt." Just as I say this Ryszard drops from the air. In one of his claws he has something trapped. Thinking it was just an animal he had caught I start to turn away when he tells me, "I found this one lurking around about a mile away," just as he drops the person on the ground.

Wearily I take out a knife I had just retrieved from the ground and held it at the ready.

Brom asks him, "Who are you and why are you following us?"

As he picks himself up, I start to study him. He has black hair and dark eyes. He looks about to be my age or a couple years older with a muscular build. "My name is Murtagh. I have been following the Ra'zac for days now, waiting for a chance to kill them. They have made my life a living hell and all I wish is for them to be gone. I had noticed over night they seemed to be tracking a group of people. I never would have guessed it would be a dragon rider," he says as he turns to look at me.

As I look at him, I think over his words and try to discern if he is being truthful. Thinking about how he had been about a mile behind them and hadn't been traveling with them, it could be a backup plan for the Ra'zac. Deciding I would let him travel with us but not trust him fully or take any of the watches. Telling Brom in his mind that I wouldn't mind him traveling with us for now.

Letting Brom handle the conditions he would set Murtagh while traveling with us until we trusted him, I turned to start packing up the camp, knowing that none of us would be able to sleep through the night after everything that had happened.

The next few days we got in a routine of flying on Ryszard through the day, stopping when the sun is going down, eating dinner, sleeping, and waking up at dawn and starting it over again. On the fourth day, when half the day had gone by, we were sitting on Ryszard's back watching the plains and hills of the Hadarac Desert pass by. Letting out a sigh, I open my mind up to both of Brom and Kierin and say that I would like to land. As Ryszard lands I hop down off of his back and start to stretch out my back muscles. When I am done I turn toward all of them and say, "I can't keep sitting on Ryszard's back for days on end. We can do it for half a day, but no more."

Sighing and frowning at me, Brom asks, "What do you suggests we do? Don't know if you've noticed but we are in a desert,"

Looking at him rather blandly, I reply, "I don't give a damn what we do as long as it doesn't involve sitting for a whole day."

"We could spar," Murtagh pipes in.

"See a good suggestion. I knew I kept you for a reason," as I smile and look toward Murtagh.

We all get out our swords except for Kierin who was still recovering from his encounter with Durza and decide to go all out until only one is left standing. After we blunt our blades and get in our stances, we wait for someone to make a move. I keep both of my blades relaxed but my muscles tensed, ready for a moment's notice. Brom ends up making the first move, striking at my head. I bring up one sword to defend that attack while I bring up the other to swing at Murtagh's arm, testing how fast he moves. He blokes that strike while taking a strike at Brom. This goes on for minutes until I get a kill strike on Brom. While he picks himself up, Murtagh and I take a break to let him move out of the way. Lifting one sword up and bringing it across my body while the other one I keep lowered pointed to the ground. I move first this time, going in for his left arm. He blocked that and took a slice at my neck. As I block that I see an opening in his right side. Waiting for him to repeat himself, I wait for the right time to strike. After a couple more minutes, he makes the same mistake and opens his guard. Taking the opportunity, I slip my blade in and flip him on his back knocking his sword out of his hands and train both of mine at him, one at his neck and the other at his gut.

Breathing deeply I give him my hand to help him up. Once we are both up and standing we turn to Brom and Kierin and sit around the fire Kierin had started when we were fighting. Drinking from the water skins, we tear into the diner that Brom had set out for us as well. Once we were content, we sit back to watch the sun framing the vast plains of the desert all around us.

"Who taught you how to fight?" Kierin asked me. He was looking at me in a new light after the fight.

Laughing, I turn and look at Brom. "I was first taught by a very reclusive man when I was traveling around Altaria. That was years ago. During my travels, I was taught by many men and women. Some added to my knowledge, others had nothing new to give me." Nodding at Brom, I continue, "Brom has taught me for about four years now if I remember correctly. But through everything I have been taught, I think the best lesson I have learned is that there is always something new to learn."

Kierin looked like he was thinking over my words so I turned to Brom and asked, "How long do you think it will take to get to the Varden if we go at this new pace?"

Thinking it over he finally says, "I would say about two weeks would do it."

"You are going to the Varden?" Murtagh asks Brom, looking rather conflicted.

"Yes," Brom answers, looking at Murtagh rather suspiciously, "You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"I think it would be best if I left you before you meet up with them," he told us. "I do not think they would want me in their mists."

Looking at him rather skeptically for a moment, I ask, "Why wouldn't they accept you? You haven't done anything that would be looked down upon by the leaders have you?"

Looking at me with a furrowed brow he says, "Not personally, no. Sometimes it is the people you are born to, that people judge over your actions in the world."

Thinking his words over, I say, "Be that as it may, you may go along with us until you see fit to leave. Now I don't know about you, but I would like to get some sleep tonight before I am so rudely awoken in the morning, good night."

Huffing and laying down, I decide to get a head start on sleep for I am sure we would be taking flight with the sun in the morning. Curling into Ryszard's stomach, I ask him what he thought about the fight I had just finished.

"I thought you did great. I think that if Kierin was up to his usual strength he would have been able to participate and easily beat you. You're patience has grown over the last couple months I noticed," he told me, turning so that he was blocking the gusts of air coming off the plains.

"Yes that is probably true, he doesn't look like he has reached full strength yet. I shall ask him tomorrow if something is troubling him," I reply trying to find a comfortable position.

"That isn't the only thing you wish to ask him is it?" he snorts out a breath towards the men, startling them all until they realized it was just Ryszard.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask disgruntled about him not letting me go to sleep like I wanted to. "Are you trying to insinuate that I might have feelings for Kierin?" I say not knowing where this is coming from.

"It is glaringly obvious to me that you like him. He is your type personified. Dark hair, bright shining eyes, a muscular statute. Do not try to deny it to me, let alone yourself," he tells me. Sighing I know he is right I just didn't want to admit it.

"It would never be possible. He is an elf. Why would he go after me, a human. He could have so much better," I think as I curl more into myself and push into Ryszard.

His whole body moves as he lets out a sigh. "Why do you let the actions of one feeble ant dictate what you do for the rest of your life? You are better than that. You are bigger than that. I say if you want something, go after it. You only have one chance to live out your life, why waste it?"

Thinking over his words, I couldn't really think of a response to his question as I relax and finally found sleep.

When I wake up in the morning, it is to Brom shaking my shoulder and telling me we should be going soon. Picking myself up, I pack my bags and eat the food set out for me. Once all of us are in the air, I let my mind wonder to Ryszard's and look through his eyes and feel the wind running along his wings. Feeling a little mischievous, I ask Ryszard if he wants to have a little fun. When his confirmation comes through, I turn towards the men behind me and say in their mind, "Get ready," with a grin. Turning around, I tense my legs, getting ready for the unknown.

As my world begins to tip over, I hear surprised gasps from the three behind me. Ryszard weaves through the air in all sorts of different patterns, some long and winding and some short and tight. This went on for a couple minutes when we decided we had had our fun for the day. Turning to check on the others, I grinned at them with blushed cheeks, asking in their minds if they were okay. After I got a positive response from them, some rather disgruntled, I turn back around. For the next hour or so, we flew very calmly towards the destination. When we came upon white fluffy clouds in front of us, we still had a couple more hours until we were due to land.

We had been flying in the clouds for about an hour when we came to a small break. Ryszard shouts in my head to look down. When I do, I see a force of figures all marching towards the direction of the Beor Mountains. Calling out to both Kierin and Brom, I point out the force to them. I connect our minds together and tell them that Ryszard will fly on through the night until we know for sure they will not catch up with us. Right after that, we went straight back into the clouds and stayed in them through the night. I had fallen asleep at some point and when I came to in the morning, we were still in light cloud cover, though it was getting sparser.

Looking around I see that we are still in the desert and tell Ryszard it is fine for him to land now if he wants. When he does land, it startles Brom, Murtagh and Kierin awake. Brom slides off first and then Kierin and after Murtagh. Kierin turns around and holds out a hand to help me down. When I am on the ground, I turn and say, "Thank you."

"Those looked like Urgals. What I don't understand is why they are moving in a big group. They are a normally nomadic race. It would take something of great fear or power to get them together like that. What is also worrying is that they look to be heading in the direction of the Varden. We need to let them know they might have a fight on their hands," Brom tells us.

We all start to set up camp and make a fire. As I am stretching out my limbs Kierin comes up to me and asks, "Have you been taught the Rimgar?"

Standing up straight, I look at him and say, "No, I haven't. What is it?"

He explains to me that it is a series of exercises that help you to loosen your muscles and help you in a fight.

I ask, "Will you teach me?" There is just some part of me that will never get old of learning new things. To me, there is always something to learn. As much as I hate to admit it, knowledge is power and power in this world, is the difference between living and dying.

As Kierin starts to get in the first position of the Rimgar, after the talk with Ryszard last night, I find my eyes appreciating the muscles of his back as he twists through the forms and stances. Shaking myself mentally, my mind turns back to the task at hand as I try to learn the moves. I feel my muscles, that I had always thought were very limber, protest as we go farther into the exercise. At the end of the first series, I am panting and feeling as if I had just ran all day long while lifting 100 pounds.

Breathing heavily, I rest my hands on my knees and ask him, "It gets easier right? Because that's going to kill me. Not Galbatorix, not old age, but that." Moving to sit on the ground, I take a long drink from the water we had brought up from the ground.

Kierin sits himself down beside me and also starts to drink the water. He says, "Yes it does. It will take some time and it will not be easy. But when you finish a series, you will start to have better control of your movements and your strength will rise."

Sighing and slumping down, I lay down on the sand and look up at the clear blue sky with spotty white clouds that looked like the fluffiest cotton. Letting my mind wander, I keep going back to the words I had with Ryszard. How could someone as dignified as Kierin, like me? A small town girl who was orphaned before she even knew her parents and orphaned again because of her own doing.

That night as Kierin wakes me up for my turn of watching over the camp, he sits down beside me by the fire that is on its last dying embers. After a couple minutes of silence, he says to me, "Back there in Gilead when we were escaping, you made many people believe you with just a couple of words. Of all my years I have been in these lands I have never meet someone who could do this and have never even heard about an ability such as yours. I might be overstepping my bounds here, but how did you do it?"

Sighing and looking up at the sky, I think if I trust him enough to tell him. Turning my gaze to Ryszard, I so wish he was awake so that I could ask his advice. Deciding to be truthful to Kierin, I turn my attention to him and say, "For all my life I have been able to make anyone believe whatever I wanted with just my voice. It all depends on if the person in question has a strong mind or not. If they do have a strong mind than they would be able to look past the power in my voice and see it as not true. For most though, they just find it easier to go along with whatever I say. Brom was the first person to fight my influence and help me control the power I have in my voice. I owe him so much that I don't think I will ever have the time to repay him."

Looking over at Kierin, I remember back to when we found him in the cell and how they both seemed to know each other. I ask him curiously, "You already knew Brom before this didn't you?"

Sighing, he takes a couple seconds to respond and then turns to me, "Yes, he was always someone I looked up to in my childhood. My father was killed by Galbatorix during the war and Brom had always filled in a hole during that time. I have always looked up to Brom and never taken his words nor actions for granted."

Thinking about what I had said to Ryszard the other night, I ask him, "How are you doing since we rescued you? I noticed you haven't participated in any of the sparing we have done."

Moving a little to get in a better position, he answers, "My power is not coming back to me as fast as I would like. I guess it is a side effect of the drugs they gave me."

Thinking that over, I grab the ring I keep on my right ring finger and hand it to him.

Looking at it and back to my face he asks, "What is this for?"

Softly laughing and looking at the bright red, fire opal, I reply, "I have stored power in that gem for many years now. When I was little and Brom was teaching me control. The one thing we discovered was that I had so much power and the only way it had out of my body was through my voice. To help this fact, we decided to start storing it in this ring. Take as much as you need from it. I can always replenish what you take today. I rather you be fit and ready for a fight than a distraction to us all."

He blinks a couple times and furrows his brows, looking back down at the ring he closes his hand around it and closes his eyes in concentration. He takes a deep breath and after a minute, opens his eyes again. Bringing his hand back up and handing over the ring, he says, "Thank you, Haven. I will always remember this."

Smiling lightly, I say, "Feel free too." Sighing, I turn away and look back up to the stars in the sky. On a whim, I turn back to him and say, "Something I heard years ago that always stuck with me is 'When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or let it strengthen you.' They have always been words that I have taken to heart." Looking away again, I don't expect an answer from him. For sometime we sit in silence, getting lost in the vast world of the sky.

"Does it look any different to where you lived before?" He asks me, as we watch the twinkling stars.

"In all of the places I have traveled, the one thing that has never changed is the stars on a cloudless night," I reply. We spend the rest of the night in silence, content to just stare at the night sky and our surroundings. When the others wake in the morning, we pack our bags and get settled on Ryszard, flying onwards.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After thirteen days of traveling, around midday when we were flying through the sky, on the horizon we could begin to see a long line of mountains begin to appear. For the next three days, they kept growing and growing, reaching up into the sky until they disappeared into the clouds. When we finally make it into the Beor Mountains, the temperature dips down into more manageable degrees. Ryszard points out a small clearing in a break of the trees, so I share this with the others who decide to land and make camp for the night. The others start to make camp when I tell them, "Ryszard and I are going to fly for a little bit more. We won't go too far away from here incase you need to contact us."

Jumping back onto Ryszard's back, we take off back into the sky. Weaving in and out of the towering mountain sides we eventually reach a strip of land that resembled a valley. Landing, Ryszard lays down and I recline on his side as he swings his head around to look me in the eye. "These mountains are vastly different than the ones back home. I thought I would find some comfort in them, but all I find is an alien feel that will not leave them," he tells me.

Looking at the the impossibly high peaks around us, I can't help but think the same. "Do you miss the Spine?" I ask as I run my hand over the scales of his stomach. I hear a rumbling coming from him that I recognize as a pleased noise.

"Yes I do miss the familiar peaks and stretches of forest and the many lakes of our mountains. I do not miss having to hide away, not being able to show myself to anyone. It is fascinating how people fear me and at the same time revear me," he responds as he stretches out some more, flicking his tail out some every couple of seconds.

"You love to see people worship you. I don't think I have ever meet someone that makes it a point to make people look at them with such emotions," I respond, watching a hawk flying across the sky till it disappears around a corner. "We should probably head back to camp soon. It will begin to get dark in a couple hours." I stand up and back up a couple steps as Ryszard stands and shakes and stretches before I hop up his side and into the saddle.

Taking off, we lazily make our we back to the others. On the way, we spot a small lake that would be perfect for a bath. Letting him know what I want, we land softly beside the water and I quickly disrobe and get out my soaps and oils. Ryszard lazes around and starts to doze off for a nap while I start to wash my dress, pants, shirts and jacket thoroughly. When I am done, I set them aside to dry. Wading into the water, I feel my legs transform into my long tail. The colors are mostly obscured by the darkness of the water at this time. At my hips, it starts out as a bronze gold color that slowly morphs into a cerulean blue, the edges along my sides are bronze as well. I dip down and wet my hair. Rising back up, I turn and reach for the oils to put in my hair. Letting them sit, I lean against a rock and watch the metallic silver of Ryszard's scales shine in the dying light of the day while I lazily move my tail around. The sunlight breaks through the cliffs and colors the leaves a myriad of different colors.

Picking himself back up, Ryszard lets me know he is heading back for camp and will meet me there. Deciding to finally wash out the oils in my hair, I wade out into the center of the small lake. Dipping down, I slowly run my hands through my hair to wring it out. As I resurface I notice that I am facing the shore I came in at and I immediately notice a figure on the side of the lake at the same time they notice me. Ducking back down so that the only thing they can see is my head, I recognize that the person is Kierin, who looks to have had the same idea as me and take a bath. He already has his shirt off and his pants are halfway untied. Not knowing what to say, I remain quiet hoping he will turn around so that I can retrieve my clothes and redress. When he doesn't move after a couple seconds I call out, "Kierin, do you mind turning around? My clothes are over there." I nod and look towards the clothes laying out, drying in the dying sun.

Looking back at him, he finally says, "Yes, of course." He turns around to give me some privacy and throws his shirt back on. Hurriedly, I will my tail to transform back into my legs and get out of the water and pull on my dress and tell him I am dressed again. Turning back around to face him, I open my mouth at the same time he says rather stiffly, "I am sorry I invaded on your privacy. I didn't notice you or your things over there. Please forgive me."

Blinking at him I tell him, "There is nothing to forgive. I am sure you did not come here with the purpose of seeing me bathing." I wring out the water in my hair and move to put on my boots I had set off to the side.

Standing up, I turn to leave when he asks me, "What happened to your stomach?"

Turning sharply to look at him, I place my hands on the long scare I know runs from my right hip curving into my belly button and back out to the top of my right ribs. Breathing deeply I am about to answer him when he speaks up again, "Forgive me. I shouldn't have asked. I'll let you go back to camp now. Walk straight that way and it will lead you to it."

Turning slowly, I pick up my bag and walk back to camp. When I reach it, I say hello to Brom and Murtagh and walk straight to Ryszard. He is steadily looking at me and once I lean back against him and lay down to sleep, he asks, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Taking a minute to think, I finally say, "No, not right now," Sleep finds me quickly but it is not a peaceful night in anyway. I am marred by nightmares and wake multiple times to fall back into a restless daze. In the morning, Ryszard wakes me in time to eat and after that we move on. I can tell Brom and Murtagh are wondering why I am being so quiet today, but I just don't have the energy to explain myself. I can feel Kieran's gaze on the back of my head for most of the day. Ryszard tries to distract me throughout the day with little comments and thoughts that pop into his mind. I am thankful he is trying but all I really want is to forget the last day just happened.

That night once we made camp, I tell them I am going for a walk and will be back by dark. I had been walking for about ten minutes when I came upon a small meadow. I sit down in the middle of it and lay back in the wild flowers that covered the floor. I lazily doze off listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. Filling a familiar presence settle down beside me, I look over and see Kierin beside me staring off into the sky with a thoughtful gaze. Waiting for him to speak I close my eyes again and soak in the warm sun.

After a minute he says, "I am sorry if I caused you any distress yesterday. I should have noticed that you were already there before I decided to bathe."

Letting out a sigh, I reply, "It is not that you saw me while having a bath that upset me." Letting out another sigh, I sit up and turn so that I am facing Kierin. Seeing him opening his mouth again, I quickly say, "Let me explain please." Taking a deep breath, I continue, "When I was but fifteen, I was traveling along the coast of Altaria and had just left a small town called Bonneck. It was about a year before Ryszard hatched for me. I was walking down a trail to the shore when a group of men jumped me. They restrained me and demanded I give them all my money. After I gave them all the coin I had, which wasn't much at all, most of them walked away. Two of them stayed."

Interrupting me, Kierin says, "You don't have to tell me. I am sorry that I brought up these memories." Looking at him, I see he looks very sincere.

Letting a small and bitter smile cross my face, I tell him, "If you wouldn't mind I would like to finish."

Nodding his head, he lets me know to go on.

Starting again, I take a deep breath and slowly let it out, "One of them tells me that he needs more money to have a good meal and he would just get it another way and leaves. The other stays back and tells the one walking away he will untie me. When he couldn't see the man, he turns to me and smirks. He reaches out and softly cupped my face with dirty hands and smiled at me with yellowed teeth. He said to me 'If you can't pay me in coin you're going to pay me another way.' I really started to fight back then, not wanting anything to happen as he was insinuating." Stopping and looking up at Kierin who is looking at me with a tight face and furrowed brows I look back at the flowers and draw energy from Ryszard who is silently with me in the back of my mind. Starting up again I say, "I managed to knock him back and run away. He reaches me again and slammed me into the ground. Rushing back to my feet, he immediately grabbed me. I pushed with all my might to get him off of me. I managed to, but he dragged his knife along me when I did. He slammed me back to the ground at the same time I pushed him off me and impaled himself on a rotting tree stump with branches going everywhere. Laying on the ground with my stomach sliced open, I had this overwhelming urge of anger to this man for wanting something that was never his. I managed to get to the town without bleeding to death. It took me weeks to get back to a reasonable strength to travel back to Sindual." Running my hand over the scar under my dress, I turn my face back to him and say, "After that, I went to everyone willing to teach me how to fight. Not having a sword at the time, they taught me how to use throwing knives, hand to hand combat and one man taught me the art of the chakram," pulling out the weapon in question, I flip it around and break it apart into two different weapons. "It is a close range weapon as well as a long range one. The bow, I have known how to use for years but was of no use to me in such a fight," sighing, I put away my weapons and look at Kierin. "I've never told anyone that story. Brom has no idea and I would like to keep it that way. He only thinks I had an interest in learning how to fight. The only other being I have ever told the full story to is Ryszard. Please keep it to yourself," I ask him.

Reaching out to rest a hand on my shoulder he says in the Ancient Language, "I will never tell a soul if you do not wish it. Thank you for trusting me with this."

Letting a small smile grace my lips, I ask him something I had been meaning to for a while now, "Why did you not want to go back to your family right away when we rescued you? That is what I would have done."

Retracting his hand slowly, he mulls this question over in his head. After about a minute I say, "You don't have to answer me. I did not mean to bring up a sensitive subject."

He looks at me with a twinkle and says, "I believe I was the one that brought up a sensitive subject." Taking a deep breath he begins, "I might as well tell you before you hear it from someone else. Back in Ellesmera, I am not just a regular elf. I have a mother and sister. My father was killed by Galbatorix during the war when I was still considered a young elf to my people. My sister was born about a hundred years after me and just years before my father was killed. Her name is Arya and my mother's is Islanzadi. My father and mother were the King and Queen. After my father's death, my mother took over the throne. Years after his death, I couldn't take just sitting around and practising my skills when all I longed to do was go out into the world and make a difference. I knew that my mother would not like my decision. When I told her of my intent to be the ambassador to the Varden, she banished me from her presence. Leaving that night, I thought she would at least see me off for it would be many years before I would return to the forest. The only people waiting for me where Arya, and two people that I thought of as mentors. I am sure that they have heard of my death, but I don't know how I will react to seeing my mother and how she will react to me when she knows that I did not die. That is why I did not want to go straight back to Ellesmera."

Thinking over his words, I see the points he makes and can understand his reasoning. Personally, I think that family should always stick by you and accept your decisions in life. Not knowing how the elven culture works, I can't really judge the Queen for her actions.

Wanting to understand more I ask him, "What did your actions change? You make it seem as if leaving had a very big impact on your mother."

"A lot," he breathes out, "I basically gave up my right for the throne. It will go to my sister when my mother steps down. I believe my mother saw that as a slight against her and took it rather personally. She never truly got over the death of my father and has always kept us close to her, never letting us stray to far. That is a major factor in pushing me to take up my position. I wanted to be in control of my life and where it takes me." As he finishes, he looks off into the sun and breathes, "in Du Weldenvarden, I felt so constricted. Everyone's eyes were trained on me at all times. Whatever I did, from the food I ate, to the company I kept, got back to my mother. Out here, nobody knows I am a prince. They just think that I am the ambassador for the elves. Of course they stare and gossip but never as bad as the elves did. The freedom I have out here is a breath of fresh air. It is all I have ever wanted, to be free of my duties and just exist."

Smiling at him, I reach out and lightly touch his arm, "It is never a bad thing to go after your dreams. Be who you are not who the world wants you to be." Frowning and asking Ryszard if it is a good idea, I tell Kierin, "We found the blue egg." Snapping his head towards me, I continue, "There was never a good time to tell you when you were rescued and once Murtagh joined us it wasn't an option. When you sent it away, it appeared in front of me when I was out hunting. We told Brom when he told us it was time to leave. I have it in a bag on Ryszard that never leaves him. It has multiple wards surrounding it. As it was your duty to protect it before it came into my possession, Ryszard and I have decided to leave it up to you what happens to it."

Relaxing more than I have ever seen him, he says, "Thank you, I have worried that it had ended up in the Empire's hands after all. I think for the time being, you should keep it. At least until we are in the company of trusted advisors."

Softly smiling at me, he stands up and reaches out his hand to help me up. Taking it, we walk back to the camp in a comfortable silence.

Brom and Murtagh look at us in apprehension, maybe expecting me to be in the same mood I had been when I left. When they see that I look as if I am back to normal they relax and sit back. Moving over to Ryszard, I jump onto his back and lay down. "I never would have guessed that Kierin was a prince. I thought that all elves just acted all noble. Though they might, he is the only one I have ever encountered."

"If I had been with you at the time, I would have torn out his throat," he says, letting his thoughts on my experience be known to me again.

Sighing and running my hand down his side, I say, "I know you would have. You will always be by my side when I need you. As I will always be by yours."

"Now back to this new development with Kierin," he says with a hint of mischief in his voice. "It seems as if you two are getting more cozy with each other."

I feel a bitter but hopeful grin cross my face as I think back on to the talk we just had and how we both seem to be putting more trust into each other. "Whatever you decide to do, I will always back you up and follow you full force ahead," he declares.

Smiling fondly, I slip down and curl up against his stomach and drift off into sleep.

As we make our way into the mountains that surround us all over, Murtagh asks us when the best time to let him off would be. As Brom and Kierin talk it over, Murtagh and I sit by the fire and talk about our childhood. He tells me how his father was never loving and he only got to see his mother very little, as little as every few months. I told him that I had never met my parents and that I had grew up with my uncle and later Brom. As our conversation was coming to a close, Brom and Kierin walk over to us and sit down. Turning to Murtagh, Kierin tells him, "The best time for you to part ways with us would be when we land tomorrow and make camp during the day." Now that the decision was made, we eat a meal and spar and practise our skills to keep them in check. Kierin teaches me more of the Rimgar and checks if I am progressing further in what he already teached me. Later that night, Kierin and Murtagh take off into the woods, Kierin for a bath and Murtagh for food. Ryszard is also off on a hunt to keep up his strength. Turning towards Brom I ask him, "Why did you never tell me you were a rider?"

Startled,he looks straight at me, "How did you figure it out?"

"It was actually Ryszard. He said your mind felt as if it was influenced by a dragon. The only thing that would have caused that was if you had been a rider," I tell him.

Breathing deeply and staring into the fire, he tells me, "I was but a boy when my dragon hatched for me. She was so beautiful and changed my life from that point onward. When she was killed, I vowed to get my revenge. Many years later I finally did. It changed nothing, for where she was supposed to be, she was not. It did not bring her back. Those memories are some of my fondest and hardest to think on."

Sitting back, I think on what I would do if I ever lost Ryszard. Thinking about how big a part he had taken over in my life, I would most likely go crazy. Reaching out to him, I take comfort from his presence that is always in the back of my mind. Seeing him hunting two deer, I drop from his mind and back into my own.

As the others return back to camp, Brom and I start to make a stew for food. That night, sleep came easy to me, I guess having got all of the things that have been on my mind off of it and into the open.

The next day, when we had landed to let Murtagh go, we decided to rest for a couple hours and keep going through the night. Eating a light lunch of bread and cheese, we were about to set back on our journey when out of nowhere a group of six Kull ambush us. As we all spring into action, I take a moment to appraise their bodies and try to find a weakness. Deciding to go with speed and flexibility over going full out strength, I take both of my swords out and run to the one closest to me. He growls and lowers his head towards me, running the rest of the way. The fight takes only minutes but it turns out to be a very tough one. Being tougher than the regular Urgal, the Kull also has more muscles. If I were not as good a swordsman and not as agile, it would most likely not have gone as quickly as it did. Looking and seeing Ryszard had two at his feet torn in half, Kierin had one at his feet already killed by the time my fight was done, Brom finished off his at about the same time as me and Murtagh just killing the one that had attacked him when I turn towards him. Making sure there are no more around us, I sweep the area with my mind, feeling the others do the same. Feeling nothing we immediately get back on Ryszard and set off again.

Contacting Murtagh, I tell him, "You will be going with us to the Varden. We are to close to the Varden to land and we do not want to lead the Kull straight there." Feeling that he was not happy about this fact, I retreat and let him think it over. A couple hours later we were approaching the entrance to the Varden. Landing outside of a waterfall, Brom steps forward and says, "Ja sam prijatelj!" Waiting and looking around us wondering why they didn't open up for us, Brom was about to speak again when the wall behind the waterfall slowly starts to swing in.

As Brom takes the lead Murtagh follows him with Kierin behind him, taking the back of the group I take a quick look at Ryszard and give him a smile. Turning back, we head into the waterfall, knowing once we pass through that everything will change, not just for us but the whole world.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Walking through the huge door we are met with a row of spears pointed at our heads. Holding up our hands we act as non-threatening as possible. Looking at the soldiers in front of us they are covered in metal and leather armor with splashes of yellow and black color. Two rows of ten soldiers are in front us. Behind them are two bald men who show no expression on their faces. We are all standing in a tall cave that I can see leads further into the mountain. Ryszard shuffles behind me in agitation not liking the fact that there are spears pointed at him and more specifically me.

The bald man on the right steps forward and says, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He directs this to me and my dragon, then looks sideways at Murtagh with a distrustful glance.

Brom steps forward and says, "I am Brom and this is Kierin the ambassador of the elves. These are our companions Murtagh and Haven and Ryszard. Where is Ajihad? There is something of importance he needs to know," he looks at the twin with a blank face I have seen many times before when he is hiding his disgust over something.

The twin barely glances at Brom and looks back at me, "We know who you are. They have never been tested, until they have, no one leaves this room," the other one walks forward as the first twin steps back.

Readying myself for his intrusion, it comes swiftly. There is no gentleness to his probe, he swiftly goes in and looks through my most recent memories. Ryszard hides my knowledge of the Ancient Language and of the talk I had with Brom and Kierin about the twins being the traitors. Once the probe is gone, he turns to Murtagh and says, "Prepare yourself," and takes a step towards him.

Murtagh speaks up then, "You will not invade my mind." He has his hands balled up in fists by his sides and has a look of defiance on his face as if he has already made up his mind no matter what.

The twin looks at him with a furrowed brow and warns him, "If you do not have your mind checked, you will be put in a cell."

Kierin steps forward and tells them, "He has traveled with us for weeks. He is trustworthy." He keeps looking at them with a steady stare, daring them to defy him.

The twin that had stayed in the background for a while now says, "If he does not let us search his mind he will have Ajihad to speak to."

Murtagh takes a moment to assess his situation and finally declares, "Then Ajihad shall decide my fate. I will not have someone search my mind. It is the only thing I have left that is undoubtedly mine." He says this with a steady voice and still body. But I know he just laid out a very big hint as to his past and what he had to endure.

The twin says, "Very well," with a displeased face and turns away. They both turn and walk away through the tunnel in the back of the cave.

One of the soldiers steps forward and says, "All of you shall stay here for now. A meal will be brought to you shortly. Take off your weapons and hand them to us." A soldier walks forward for each of us.

Frowning, I hand over my bow and arrow to the guy in front of me. Next, I unstrap my two swords and place them carefully in his arms as well. I grab my chakram from in between my shoulder blades and softly place it in the pile slowly forming, "Watch it with that. It's sharp," I tell him with a grin. Continuing on, I take out my throwing knives one by one from all over my body, four I take out from my boots, two more from up the sleeves of my jacket, two others from the sides of my jacket by my breasts. As I keep pulling them out from seemingly nowhere, everyone starts to look over at me as they already seemed to be done. Giving them an innocent expression I keep going. The next one comes out from the front of my belt, two others from the side of it. The last one in my possession I pull out from in between my breasts down the front of my low cut dress. I smirk at the uncomfortable glances as they shift around. Sighing I'm about to take out my last weapon when the soldier carrying my weapons starts to walk away, "Wait," I call out to him and reach under the slit on the left side of my dress and pull out a long dagger I keep on my upper thigh. I smile sweetly at him as I place it gently on the pile of weapons in his arms. "I will get all of these back, yes?" I ask the one appearing to be in charge.

"You will get them back once you have talked to Ajihad," he tells us as the others all walk towards the exit, "A meal will be brought to you shortly."

Turning towards the others I see a range of emotions crossing their faces. "What?" I ask them.

Brom looks at me and says, "I never knew you had that dagger."

Smiling at him I turn to sit against the wall to wait and say, "It comes as a nasty surprise to those that do."

Huffing in amusement, he moves to do the same as me, "I think you gave that poor man a heart attack at the end."

Startling a laugh out of me I turn to look at him and say, "He'll live."

The others all sit down as well, set to wait for a few hours at least.

"They do not seem as welcoming of us as they should. I can definitely see it being true that the twins are the spies," Ryszard tells me. "What do you think of Murtagh not letting them search his mind?"

I think back to the conversation we had about our childhoods and it seems to fit in with his secretive personality. "It is not that surprising from what he has told me about his past. I do not think less of him for denying them access, for if it was a possibility I would have done the same."

After what seemed like a couple of hours later during which we had a light meal of bread, cheese and meats, a contingent moves into the room.

We all stand up and face them as a tall man steps forward, "My name is Ajihad. I am the leader of The Varden." Turning to look at Kierin, he says, "It is a relief to see you alive and with us again. And Brom, it has been a very long time indeed since you have walked these halls." He turns to finally stare at me, "It is truly an honor to have a dragon and their rider in these halls once again," at last he looks at Murtagh and asks, "What is your name?"

"Murtagh," he replies, as he steadily looks at Ajihad.

Ajihad looks at him for a couple seconds as if working out something. He turns to Brom and asks, "You do know who he is, correct?"

Brom stares him straight in the eye and says, "Yes, I knew from the start. He has showed he is trustworthy and has been as truthful as I would have been in the same position."

Murtagh looks between them with pursed lips, not liking the direction the conversation is going. Ajihad directs his stare at him again and asks, "You are Morzan's son correct?"

He clenches his jaw and answers, "Yes. He is my father," looking more fully at him it all starts to make sense in my head. The bad childhood, the mean father that showed no love, the mother kept away from him, his aloofness about anything specific pertaining to him and his unwillingness to let anyone search his mind. "He never showed me love once in the years I knowed him. When I heard of his death it was the most glorious news I had ever heard," he tells us with a sneer on his face. He is back to balling up his fists and acting like a caged animal. I reach over and touch his arm in comfort and reassurance. He glances at me with a pleading expression, I nod at him to say I believe him and understand, that I have no doubt he is a good person.

Ajihad sighs and looks conflicted, "The people will be angered if Morzan's son is let free and is living with them."

I speak up then not liking where this is leading, "The people will also be angered if they hear someone is being judged on what their parent has done and not what they have done."

Ajihad looks at me with a mixed expression, one of which holds amusement, respect and last of them as if he agreed with what I just said. He turns to look at Murtagh one last time as if to make sure he is doing the right thing and then declares, "You will be able to go free. If you do cause any trouble you will be put in a cell at once."

Knowing this was about the best deal he would get he nods at Ajihad and tells him, "Thank you, I will not prove you wrong."

Humming, Ajihad says, "See to it that you do not," and turns away. "Come," he calls, "I will show you where you will be staying," as he leads us through the tunnels.

In the same order we walked through the waterfall, we follow him down the tunnel. Walking beside Ryszard I see many of the guards steal glances at him and his huge bulk. "They either love you or fear you. I can not decide which. Though it could be both," I tell him.

"Yes I suppose it could be," he says with amusement flowing through his voice, "that definitely went better than I thought it would ultimately go."

"I do feel sorry that Murtagh had to endure such a rough childhood. As bad as mine was I wouldn't have swapped it out for his if I was forced to," I tell him. I feel him push his love and devotion towards me through our bond and feel so much better knowing that he has been by my side and will continue to be there for many things to come.

Leading us through the twist and turns of the tunnels in the mountain we finally reach a hall that has multiple doors running down it. "This is where you will be staying Brom, Murtagh and Kierin. Drop off your bags Brom and Kierin and we shall continue on. Murtagh, a guide will be sent to you shortly to show you everything you can do."

Walking on, we come to a big circular room that when you look up leads out into the open air. Figuring that this is the center of the mountain I see holes surrounding the walls all the way to the top. Ajihad says to me, "This is the Dragon's Keep. You can have your pick on which room you like. Drop your things off and return here, we will wait for you."

Hopping onto Ryszard's back, we spring into the air and come to a room just below the middle. There is a big circle with a cushion in it, against the wall is a large bed. Off to the side is a door that leads to a study with a door to a hallway I guess people who have to walk use. Back in the bedroom there is another door to a washroom. Dropping of my bags and all the bags we keep on Ryszard we jump back out and descend back to the ground. Jumping off his back, he jets back up and out of the hole, going to search for food. I tell them, "He hasn't ate in a while. He will be back in no more than four hours. Everything you say I will relay it to him."

We continue on back through the tunnels until we reach a set of double doors. Two guards open the doors for us once we are close to them. As we walk in, I can see a huge and decorative desk. Behind that on the wall are maps of what looks like mountains and the tunnels they contain, the whole land of Alagaesia, and a bookcase filled to the brim with multiple tombs on several subjects. Ajihad takes a seat behind his desk as Brom, Kierin and I take a seat in front of it.

When the twins move as to walk behind the desk and stand by Ajihad, he says to them, "I will talk to them by myself."

Not looking happy about this they walk to the doors and close them behind themselves. Turning to look at Ajihad, I can't help but think that he looks like a fearless leader that has kept this rebel cause going for a very long time. One of the many things I have heard about the Varden is that they have been in existence since Galbatorix had overthrown the order of riders and the forsworn had been killing off the others. Hearing that he has been a good leader for almost two decades helps me in my resolve of joining his cause and what he is doing here and for all of Alagaesia.

He looks at us with searching eyes. Trying to figure out what why it is we are all here before him as one. He finally says to me, "It is an honor to be sitting in this room with you today. We had hoped for a dragon to hatch for someone. But I need to know if you have intentions of joining us and fighting against Galbatorix and his forces before we go any further in this conversation."

Looking him back in the eye, I say, "Back in Altaria, the hand of the King does not reach far into our hearts and lives. We hear stories and tales of what he has done and continues to do. Some people move over from the Empire to our lands to free themselves from him and their sufferings. As we journeyed into this land, we discovered just how true their accounts were and what they had to endure. After seeing this first hand, Ryszard and I have decided we can not let him continue on in his thrown and have decided to fight him with all we have and nothing less."

Ajihad sits back and thinks over what I said, "That is a relief to hear. We have not had a dragon on our side and it has hindered our efforts to hurt Galbatorix," looking over at Brom and Kierin as well he addresses all of us, "Now on to different matters. Scouts along the edge of the mountains have sent word that their is a large force of Urgals making their way into it. We do not know which direction they are heading and why they seem to be doing so. Would you have any answer to this?"

Brom speaks up and says, "They are not just Urgals. They are all Kull and we had flown over them on our way here. We have no reason to believe they caught sight of us for we were covered in the clouds at the time. Do you know their numbers? From what we saw it looked to be in the high hundreds if not low thousands."

Ajihad takes out a report written down on a slip of paper and says, "They estimate around two thousand strong. If what you say is true and it is Kull marching on us we have an even bigger task at hand. From what the report said we have at most one to two weeks before they are on us. The thing is we can't figure out how they found our location. It was not simply given out to anyone of untrustworthy intent. We can also not figure out how they would go about getting in."

"The tunnels," I say. Everyone looks at me wondering about what I am talking about. "Walking here we passed how many tunnels? Most were uninhabited as we walked through them. There must be hundreds of abandoned tunnels that run through this mountain. I'm willing to bet some connect other mountains to this one. Is it that far fetched to believe they will use those to infiltrate and surprise us?" Ajihad looks thoughtful and turns around to look at the maps he has all over his wall.

"They could," he muses. "I will have to consult with the dwarves more on this. The other thing we need to discuss is the traitor. It has gone on long enough and now it is endangering all of those that call this mountain home."

Kierin says slowly, "We might have figured out who it may be."

"Oh?" Ajihad asks in surprise, "How did you come to this conclusion?"

Glancing at me and back to Ajihad he says, "We were discussing who it could be over a fire one night. No one from the Empire could have known my route that day when I was captured by Durza. It was actually Haven that put the thought in our heads."

Everyone turns to me and studies me. Raising my eyebrow I explain, "To me it seemed obvious. Maybe because I was not surrounded by everyone and I had no preconceived notions as to who it could be. I told them what would be the easiest way to go unnoticed in a place that checks everyone that enters." Ajihad looked as if he was thinking on what I was saying, trying to figure out who it could be. Continuing I say, "The people that check everyone that comes in. They would go unnoticed by you as they have been doing it for years. They could place blame on who they want and let in enemies and send away people that could help your cause."

He seemed to be in war with himself, trying to deal with the truth in my words and the people he knew as the twins and their personalities. He whispers, "It's them isn't it? All these years everybody blindly followed them and what they said about everyone that came to us. It saddens me that someone who has no experience in the lives of the Varden was able to figure it out. This changes everything. They are some of our most skilled magicians. Without them we will have a big hole to heal."

Looking at Brom he says, "It seems so obvious now doesn't it? How could we have not seen it?"

Brom sighs and shakes his head, "I do not know. But something has to be done and before the battle. They will be more of a harm than a help to us during it."

"Yes, I agree," Ajihad says, "I will talk to Hrothgar and we will decide their fate."

Kierin speaks up here and says, "I would like to be in that conversation. The queen will want a say on this as well."

Ajihad nods and says, "Of course you will be welcome. Does your mother know that you are still alive?"

Nodding Kierin says, "Yes, I sent her a missive."

Speaking up again, I say, "There is one more thing we need to tell you." I reach behind me and take the bag off my back that I had warded so that nobody would notice it until I took it off. Setting it on Ajihad's desk, I reach in and pull out the blue egg that had been safely tucked away this entire time.

Reaching forward, Ajihad touches the egg and looks at me with steady eyes and say, "We had thought it lost. This is a great surprise and truly good news. Traveling across Alagaesia with it will not be an option anymore. We will let people here try and see if it will hatch for them. If none do, after the battle when Kierin goes back to Du Weldenvarden it will go there and do the same."

Seeing the sense in that we all nod our heads. He asks me, "I had no recollection of a silver dragon egg being in existence. Where did you find Ryszard's egg?"

"In a long forgotten building hidden in the mountains back in Altaria. It was not easy to find and I would not have found it if not for luck being on my side," I answer him.

Now that a decision had been made on everything important he tells us, "For now I will let you rest. You have had a long and stressful journey I have no doubt. Tomorrow we will move forward on battle plans and what to do about the traitors."

Knowing a dismissal when I see it, I stand and we all move to the door. Outside of it is a guide to bring us to our rooms. He looks to be about fifteen years old and as if he ran a lot, "My name is Arryn and I will be your guide around the mountain until you can find your own way around, we will go to your room first and then I will show you how to get to all the common areas," he told me.

I bid Kierin and Brom farewell and move to walk alongside him. "My name is Haven. How long have you been here in this mountain, Arryn?" I ask him curious about why someone so young would be my guide.

As we walk along the tunnels, I remember the way we are coming from Ajihad's office and all the little marks that will help me return if I ever find myself needing to. Which I will, thinking on all the planning that will be going on in the next week or two.

"My family has lived in this mountain for three generations now. My grandfather came here in the early days of the Varden's beginning," he tells me. "My father is a soldier and so is my older brother. My father began to teach me how to fight when I was twelve as I want to be one as well but I can not join until I am sixteen. For now I am helping out with running around letters and sending for people trying to stay in fitness for when I do become one."

"Well I hope you get everything out of life you want. There is nothing better than accomplishing what you set yourself out to do. It is admirable that you still want what you did years ago," I tell him. He seems like a good kid, but I just hope he isn't getting himself into something he has glorified for probably his whole life and then find it is severely lacking.

"Thank you," he says excitedly, "we are coming up to Isidar Mithrim. It means Star Sapphire. You are staying above it in the Rider's Keep. Your weapons will be waiting for you in there."

Walking up steps and more corridors we make it to the top of the sapphire and see it in all its beauty. It is the largest gemstone I have ever seen and probably the most magnificent as well. He explains to me the method in which people that need to get up to the rooms take so that they are not spending all their energy and time running up hundreds of flights of steps. We use the pulley system and go up to the room we had chosen. Reaching it, I go in and retrieve all my weapons and put them back in all the right places on my body leaving the bow and arrow on my bed. I walk back out and take a moment to remember the route here and what the hall outside my room looks like. Turning back around we walk through more tunnels. We reach a door that leads to the kitchens. A few more doors down, we come to the dining area where everyone gets their food. As I had already ate, we moved on in the tour.

The next place we go is the library. Stepping in I look around me in amazement. In all the libraries I had been in none had ever been this big. Knowing I would be spending some of my free time here whenever I got the chance we turn back out before I didn't leave.

The last place we go to is the training ground. When we get there some of the people that are training turn to us and I guess are wondering what we are both doing here. The training ground consists of an open room that if you look up can see the clouds in the sky. There are areas for people to practice long range weapons, sword fighting and hand to hand.

"I thought you would come here," I here from behind me. Turning around I see that Kierin is making his way over to us.

I turn to Arryn and smile at him and say, "Thank you for the tour. If I ever need to know where something else is I will look for you. I hope everything turns out good for you and your family."

He smiles at me and says, "It is no problem. Take care and I wish you luck," he turns and walks away back into the mountain presumably for his next task.

I turn my full attention to Kierin who has stopped by my side and tell him, "It is a very big place. I almost stayed in the library and got lost in all the books it contains."

He smiles at me and asks me, "Would you like to spar?"

Looking out at all the faces still looking at me I say, "I would love to. Just swords?"

Moving over to a free space we get out our swords and dull the blades. We both get in our positions and all the faces around us disappear. All I focus on is Kierin and how he will fight. I have never fought against him in all of the nights I did with Brom and Murtagh so I am at a disadvantage. We both wait for someone to make the first move. In the back of my mind, I feel Ryszard getting closer to us and about to land. When he just makes it into my ring of vision Kierin attacks thinking that his descent would distract me for a split second. I block his strike and am on him right after. We trade blows with each other in very quick succession. He moves with a grace that I have never seen before. All of his movements are refined and always have a purpose. Either to test my defence, to block my hits, or distract me. He never puts a foot out of place. Wondering how long I can stand against him I give him my all. I know that this is to test my skills and how good I am for the future. I show him some of my moves and my speed which is nowhere near his but very fast for a human. To everyone watching us it probably looks like we are dancing with each other with blades rather than fighting. After ten minutes I have lost one sword and am fighting with my left hand. Without the upper hand, I try something that I had been wanting to do for a while now. Taking a small step out and daring him to follow and when he does I take a big one in and turn with my blade connected to his. It flips his out of his hands as I had been wanting. What I didn't think would happen is that mine would come out with it as well.

Looking at my blade on the ground, I purse my lips and pick it up, I turn around and there is Kierin handing me the first blade I lost. He has a small smile on his face and is chuckling at me, "Why do you look so sad? You just unarmed me. That hasn't happened for a long time now."

Looking at him I answer, "Really now? I didn't know that." Glancing down at Herrschaft, the blade I keep in my right hand I know that move won't work with how it is shaped. "I've been working on that move for a while now and I didn't see it going exactly like that. I need to work on it with my other blade." Looking at Hoffnung, I see the guard is not as spiky and doesn't have all of the groves for swords to get stuck in like Herrschaft does.

Thinking to Ryszard, I say that I want to go to the library for a little bit and see if I can find anything interesting. He takes back off for our room for a nap after his big lunch.

Putting away our blades, we walk off the grounds and back to the dining area for something to eat, not giving a damn about all the disbelieving stares that follow our backs.

After a small meal, I tell Kierin that I am going to go explore the library and find something to read. When I reach the great room, I immediately turn to walk further into the room. In all my experience with libraries, they keep the older and far more interesting books away from the front and all of the people coming for a quick read. I come upon a section that has books in most amusingly my own language, called Deutsch. They all appear to be very ancient and about to fall apart. Taking one down and going to sit at the table in the center of my section, I get lost in tales of Altaria that I had never heard of before. There are some about dragons of old and the wild ones that lived in the Spine. People that helped to shape the land and the boundaries. Lost castles that gave people shelter and a place to stay on a cold night. People that could turn into half fish, half humans and make them do things against their will.

As I am just making my way into that section of the book someone sits at my table in front of me. It is a women that looks to be in her mid twenties with blonde curly hair and eyes that would fit in with the sky on a cloudless day. "You can read that book," she says not as a question but as a statement, "It has been many a year since I have met someone from Altaria." A cat jumps on the table to the side of us and sits down to stare straight at me. After a second, I feel a mind trying to get in contact with me. Looking into the cat's eyes I see he is no regular cat, letting it enter my mind, I ask it, "What are you? I have never met one such as you before."

"I am a werecat. I have also never met one such as you before. What are you?"

Looking at him for a second, I respond, "I am what is called a Siren. We can make people believe whatever we want with our voices, if they do not have a strong mind. My name is Haven, what is yours if you do not mind me asking?"

"I am called many names but you may call me Solembum. I will see you in time Rider," he tells me and then jumps down and walks away from us.

"He talked to you," the woman says, "He doesn't usually do that. You can call me Angela. What is your name?" She looks at me very curiously as if I am a giant puzzle she just has to solve.

Grinning, I tell her, "Haven, is their something I can help you with?"

She seems to remember the reason she came over here in the first place before Solembum talked with me, "You can read that book. I have always found the language interesting but haven't run into anyone that understood it in years. Where you taught the language or are you from Altaria?"

"I am from Altaria. I recently left and found my way here. I never expected to find these books here in this library. I have never seen or heard of some before. The topics in them are most enlightening," I tell her as I look back to my book.

"Well I will let you go back to reading. I just wanted to introduce myself. I hope we shall meet again in the near future Haven," she says as she stands and walks out the way Solembum did.

Shaking my head I gather my book and a couple others that look interesting and head back to my rooms. Walking in, I see Ryszard laying on the big cushion off to the side of the room. Laying down the books in the study, I walk back out to the bedroom and make myself comfortable right beside him. He lets out a content hum and stays asleep. I look out the opening and see no sunlight what so ever, I had not realised how late I had stayed in the library. Closing my eyes, I drift off to sleep knowing that Ryszard's and my life was only going to get harder from this point on.


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: This chapter contains sexual content. If you do not like this or are not 18 years of age or older, do not read. The scenes will be marked when they start and stop.**

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Chapter 7

The next morning, I awake to Ryszard standing up and getting ready to go out for a hunt. Noting the sun is just coming up in the sky, I get up and move over to the wash room. I had not had a chance to take a bath when we got in yesterday and I could feel the grime and sweat coating my body. I take off my clothes and wash them first and lay them out to dry. Refilling the tub, I heat the water up and get in.

Relaxing, I try to think the last time I had a hot bath and would have to say it was before the trip I took into the woods back in Altaria and found the blue egg, before we had to leave. Sighing, I rub the soap that was set out by the tub all over me, wanting to get my skin as clean as I can. I rinse everything off and put the oils in my hair to get it as smooth as possible. Brushing through it, I let it cascade down the back of the tub and just sit back and relax some more. I feel my muscles relax some but they don't lose all the tenseness in them.

***SMUT***

Rolling my shoulders, my breasts come out over the water and into the cool cave air. My nipples harden instantly, I let out a gasp and dunk them back under the water again. I sigh and run my hands over them and squeeze my breasts before setting my hands on my stomach. Thinking back on the last time I had someone touch my body that way and knowing it had been months since someone else had pleased me in a sexual way. I hadn't had anytime when traveling here to even think about touching myself what with Brom and then later Murtagh and Kierin around. Running my hand slowly around my stomach, I contemplate if I have the time to go into it now or if I should just wait.

Deciding that I was already in the bath and that I didn't know when I would have the chance to anytime soon, I slowly started to caress my skin in small circles with my finger tips. Bringing them up my torso, I stop just shy of my breasts, and run my fingers on the underside of them wanting the anticipation to build. I bring my fingers around the side and slowly move to my nipples. I softly rub them into hard points until I can't take my teasing any more and start to gradually twist them tighter and tighter.

I feel myself getting wetter as time goes on. Sighing, I stretch out some more and bring my legs apart so they are touching either sides of the tub. I keep my left hand on my breast and bring the other slowly down my body. Trailing it down my body, I feel the muscles I have toned for years and some days I wish they were flat so I could feel the softness and smoothness women typically have. Though I know I would hate not being in the shape that I am, it is a point of pride for me to have all my muscles. I continue down until I reach my belly button and run circles around it for a few seconds and continue on. I pass my mound and go to my inner thighs that are tensed for what I know is to come. I bring my fingers to my outer lips and just caress them softly. I miss the intimate touches that I am giving myself and wonder when I will trust someone else enough to let them give them to me again. I part my outer lips and bring my pointer finger to just rest on my clit not moving it. I slowly start to rub light circles on top of it and feel a gush of more slickness come out of me. Not wanting this to end just now, I bring my fingers down to my entrance and rub around it. Dipping the tip of my middle finger in, I stop at the knuckle and let it sit there for a second. I can feel my breathing getting shorter and little pants leaving me.

Starting to move it a little deeper, I flex my thighs, my body wanting more. I move it deeper in until I don't have anymore finger to put in. Twisting and turning, I start to pump it in and out and pick up the pace. Dropping my head back, I keep my eyes closed and insert my pointer finger as well. Picking up the speed again I start to climb to a point I know will feel fantastic. I bring my left hand down from where I had been rubbing my nipples and go straight for my clit again, rubbing it in fast and hard circles. Gasping for breath, and letting out small whines, I keep this pace for about a minute when I feel myself start to tighten around my fingers and all of the sudden my whole body clenches and all I feel is pleasure, from the tips of my toes to the hair on my head. My mouth is wide open and I take a big, shaky breath trying to get air back in my lungs. My fingers have come to a stop in me and I circle my clit very lightly loving the spasms it brings to the surface. Slowly pulling my fingers out, I rest them back on my stomach as I try to get my breathing right. All of my muscles are loose and feel like jelly. Grabbing the soap after a couple minutes of just basking in silence, I run it along my body to clean it up after what I had just done. When finished, I grasp the sides of the tub and lift myself up.

***END SMUT***

Taking a towel that I had set beside the tub, I rinse off my body and wrap it around me. I walk back into the bedroom and see that Ryszard is back. He watches me and says, "Enjoy yourself much?" with laughter in his voice.

Continuing to walk over to my bags, I reach into one and retrieve a pair of pants and shirt and a bra the will keep my breasts contained while I am not wearing my corset. "I did in fact. I haven't felt my muscles this loose in months. It feels amazing," I say as I drop my towel and pull up my pants and put on the bra. I hear a sound behind me and Kierin walk through the door from my study. He stops short on seeing me in an undressed state and quickly turns around.

"I am sorry. I had knocked and called out but nobody answered." He pauses and then says, "Ajihad would like us to accompany him in a war council. I will wait in your study for you," he walks stiffly back through the way he came and into the other room.

Pulling the shirt over my head, I strap all of my weapons on and pull some short boots on my feet. "Is this not the second time he has walked in on you with clothes off? Some might think he does it on purpose," Ryszard lightly comments as he stands up.

Frowning at him in exasperation, I say, "Don't look too far into it Ryszard. It was an accident. Know please try not to embarrass me any more?" I plead with him as I think back on all the times he would tease me.

I walk into the study to find Kierin had one of the books I had taken from the library open and looking it over. "Do you know Deutsch?" I ask him not knowing if he ever had anyone to teach him.

He looks up and sets the book back down and says, "No, I've never had the chance to sit down and learn it. It has always fascinated me, maybe one day I will get the chance."

Smiling at him I say, "Ja, es ist faszinierend. I would teach you if you want. Back in Altaria, I taught the children how to read and write."

He tilts his head to the side thinking about my offer and says, "If we have the time, I would love to learn it. But first, we need to get to the war council."

We walk back into the bedroom and toward Ryszard. Kierin greets him as we climb up to the saddle and take off down to the bottom of the keep. We land and both of us jump down to the floor and start the trek to Ajihad's office. On the way, we passed many people walking along the tunnels. Some would hurry on towards their destination while others would slow down and stare at us as we walk by. After around five minutes, we arrived at the hallway that housed Ajihad's office. Kierin stopped at a door before his office and opened it. We walked into a large room which held a long table that looked as if it had been used for many meetings. There was already a number of people sitting around, some I knew such as Brom and the twins, others I did not know. I took a seat beside Brom as Kierin sat on my other side. Brom turns to me and says, "We are about to start shortly but before we do I want to introduce you to a couple people," He pointed at a shorter man and said, "This is Orik, he is the dwarves embassador. Next to him is Jormundur, he is Ajihad's second in command. This is Haven, she is the rider of Ryszard."

Ryszard had barely fit through the huge doors and sat down in a back corner in the shadows of the room. Everyone greeted us and gave us their welcome. At that moment a door in the back of the room that blended into the wall opened and Ajihad and another dwarf entered.

Kierin whispers in my ear that he is Hrothgar, the king of the dwarves. They take seats at the table and Ajihad speaks up, "Thank you for coming everyone. We need to discuss the situation with the Kull and what it means for us in the next week. But first there is another matter that was just presented to me yesterday," he gestures at guards that were stationed around the rooms. They all close in on the twins as Brom says, "Ostati tamo (stay there)." The twins bodies freeze as the guards disarm them and put shackles on them that seem to visibly drain energy from them. "You have been charged as traitors of the Varden. What do you have to say for yourselves?" Ajihad asks them.

Brom says, "Govoriti (speak)," to the twins. They stay silent for a minute when one of them says in a clipped voice, "How did you know? We let nothing show."

Ajihad frowns at them and in a firm voice says, "You just proved it. There was a whisper as to who it could be but we had no clear evidence. You will be sentenced to death later today for treason. Get them out of here, put them in separate cells so they can not talk to each other."

We all watch as they are marched out of the room and presumably to their cells. Turning my head to watch Kierin, I see a small frown on his face and a far away look. I reach out and place my hand on his forearm that is lying closest to me on his leg. His muscles are bunched up and his fist balled to the point I thought he would cut himself with his nails. I squeeze his arm very lightly, just to let him know I am there and retreat back. He looks over at me and gives me a small nod and back away to take a big breath, slowly calming down. Everything is settled down in the room now that the twins have been taken away.

Ajihad clears his throat and says, "Now that that is over, we can talk about our other issues. We have had reports from scouts that say the Kull have disappeared from the forests. We believe they have hidden in an abandoned mountain are going to try to attack us through the tunnels. The problem is that there are many tunnels that lead from abandoned cities into this one. If we knew from which direction they are coming from, we would have an advantage, but right now the only people that possibly know where they are, are in our dungeons. The twins have very strong minds and will not break under an attack in the time we need the information."

I speak up at his pause, "I might have a solution for that."

Everyone turns their gaze onto me and King Hrothgar asks, "What would this solution be? Their minds are connected. They have the strength of two whenever one is being attacked."

"I do not need to invade someone's mind to get them to trust me. If it is alright with you, I would like to give it a try. We have no other option at this moment," I tell them as I look between Ajihad and Hrothgar.

They look at each other and turn back to me, "When this meeting is over you can go to them and see if it works. If we have that information it would be invaluable," Ajihad tells me. He turns back to everyone and starts talking again, "Another matter that has come to my attention is something good instead of bad. When Kierin was captured we had thought that the blue dragon egg was lost to the Empire. When their group had come back to us we learned that in all actuality that it had been sent to Haven and that she has kept it safe till now. We are in possession of it again. It is decided that we will circle it around the Varden until Kierin takes it back to Ellesmera after the battle. We had not thought it would be safe to keep traveling the land with it anymore with all of the activity picking up. Does anyone have any questions about anything else?" We all shake our heads that we do not.

King Hrothgar speaks up, "Good, when we know more about the plans of the Kull, we will have another meeting. For now practise your skills and make sure you are ready for anything in a moments notice. Haven, a guard will take you to where the twins are being held. I hope you will be able to get something from them that we can not. We will have another meeting later tonight to discuss some other things, if you get anything from them you can tell us then."

"Thank you, I will let you know if I do," I tell him as I go to the door and Ryszard, who has just retreated back into the hall.

I look up at him and say, "You probably won't be able to fit where we are going. Do you have anything in mind for what you are going to do?"

"I might go for some flying or for a nap. When we have a chance I would like to go for a fly with you. It hasn't been just us in a long time," he says with a longing in his voice.

"Of course, I would love to do that," I say as I rub the scales above his eyes.

He takes off back down to the direction of our room and I turn to Kierin who has stayed behind, he asks, "I was wondering if you would like company as you deal with the twins?"

"That would be nice," I reply, "Do you not have anything you need to do?"

"Nothing of importance at this moment," he tells me, "If you don't mind me asking, how do you plan on getting the twins to speak?"

Grinning at him, I say, "You'll just have to wait and see."

The guard brings us down the city to where they keep the cells and we walk up to a hall that is filled with guards lined up both ways, making sure that nothing happens. At the end of the hall we stop before a door and I ask a guard, "Can I get a chair?"

He nods at me and walks away. A minute later he is back with a small, wooden chair that looks like it has seen better days. Another guard opens the door and walks through. I follow next and Kierin after me. The first thing I see is a twin shackled to the back wall and is standing looking at us. The one with the chair sets it on the floor and asks me, "Would you like us to stay?"

"Kierin will stay with me, there is no need for more," I tell him. He nods at me and both of them leave closing the door after them. I turn and take a seat while Kierin walks to a corner and stands back to watch.

I stare at the twin in silence until he asks, "What are you doing here? You aren't going to kill me."

Chuckling I say, "No, I am not here to kill you. I am not even here to cause you harm. I am here to talk."

He snarls at me and says, "I will not tell you anything. You will never break into my mind."

I slowly straighten my head I had tilted, smile at him and say, "What makes you think I need to break your mind? Now lets try something small. Where are the Kull coming from?" I ask with no power in my voice just getting a feel for this guy and how much he will take before he starts to crack.

"Do you really think it's going to be that easy?" he asks.

Putting a little more power in my voice that I would usually use for someone with no shields, I ask again, "Where are the Kull coming from?" He just sneers at me and looks away.

Using the same amount of power with someone that has been taught how to shield their minds but aren't very proficient, I ask again, "Where are the Kull coming from?"

He shakes his head as if to get rid of a fly but doesn't respond. I turn it up more so that I would be using it on someone with rock hard shields that they had been spending all of their lives perfecting, "Why don't you tell me where the Kull are coming from?"

He starts to break out in a sweat and breath in sharp little breaths and asks, "What are you doing to me?"

Smiling at him softly, I amp up the power a degree more and say, "I'm doing nothing. These dungeons are just so hot and stuffy. They should probably try to fix that."

He slowly nods and says, "They should, this heat is making a stay here unbearable."

I tilt my head and ask, "Why don't you tell me where the Kull are coming from? You said you would not five minutes ago."

He furrows his brow and says, "I did say that. But why did I say that?"

I put in a little bit more power and tell him, "Because you trust me. Galbatorix sent me to you so that if you were captured you could tell me everything and I would finish it. Now where are the Kull coming from?"

The twin smiles at me and says, "Yes he did, didn't he? They are coming from Ithro Zhada. The king changed the name of the cities so that if a spy where to overhear he would be confused. It used to be known as Orthiad. They will be here in six days time. They are using the tunnels as a way to go unnoticed. They are approximately 5,000 strong the last I heard. "

Thinking this over, I ask, "Is there anything else you would like me to pass on?"

"We had planned on capturing Murtagh and taking him back to the Empire. People have been looking for him for a while and would be very pleased with us if we gave him to them. Durza wants the elf back. He never got to finish with him," he tells me.

I turn to look at Kierin and see how he is doing. He is glaring at the twin with more hatred than I have ever seen on his face before. I turn back around to the twin wanting to finish this as fast as possible and ask, "Are you sure that is all you want to say?"

He thinks and finally says, "Durza will be there. He has some sort of control over the Urgals that binds them to him. That is all I have for you." He sits back against the wall and just continues to stare at me.

I quickly stand up and walk out of the room. Kierin is as close to me as he can get, not wanting to be in that room anymore than I do. I tell the guard, "We are done. We can find our own way back up."

Kierin is silent as we walk through the tunnels. We reach his door and I am about to continue on towards mine when he asks, "Would you like to come in?"

Nodding my head, I say, "Sure." We walk through the door and he closes it. The front room is an office with a sitting room that contains a small couch, that resembles a loveseat more than anything else, that faces a fireplace off to the side. I'm guessing his bedroom and washroom is through the two other doors that I see. He takes a seat on the couch and stares into the fire. I take a seat next to him and think back on the talk I just had with the twin. I know I didn't torture them or break his mind but I feel as if I did something even worse. I twisted his mind and went passed his will to make him believe something with his whole being that he will never go against. He will swear by it for the rest of his life, unless I tell him it is not true. I remember the days were I would get physically sick after doing that. Now all I feel is a deep regret that I wish I was never born with these powers, but then I think about all of the lives I will save with the information that I gained today with my power.

"Do you regret doing that?" I hear from my side. I turn my head to look at Kierin and think about his question. I know what I would say, but it is a very personal question to ask.

Letting out a long sigh, I reply, "Yes, I regret doing it every time. I hate how no matter someone does, they have no way of fighting it off. I don't like having all this power over everyone." I look down at my hands that I have in my lap that at some point I started to rub against each other, a nervous tick I have always had. "I used to love it," I whisper. "When I was a kid I could get whatever I wanted. We would play the games I wanted, we would eat what I wanted, we did everything I wanted. Now I wish I never had them."

He stays quiet for a minute and then asks me, "What changed?" Sharply looking at him, I see he is just curious as to why I had changed my views on it.

Pursing my lips, I think back to all those years ago and what I had made Uncle Garrow do. I finally answer him, "I killed someone." I look away into the fire, not wanting to see his face when I say it, thinking back to that fateful day. "It was a couple years after I had figured out what I was doing. Brom had begun teaching me how to control how much power I put behind my words so that I didn't make anyone do anything they didn't want to. My Uncle, who I lived with, thought that I was going for reading and writing lessons. He didn't want me to go anymore because he wanted me to help more around the farm. I got so mad at him that day and told him, 'I won't stop, you can't make me. I hate you, I wish you were dead.' I lost all the control I had been working on in that moment. Later that day I went home and found a note he left me, I also found his body. He had hung himself from the ceiling. My powers made him believe that I wanted him dead. From that point onwards I hated my power. I tried so hard to get them under control after that. I locked myself away with Brom until I did." Tears had started to fall down my face somewhere along my story, I hadn't noticed them until one hit my hands in my lap. I was about to reach up and wipe my face when I felt a hand on my chin. Kierin turned my face towards him and gently wiped them off.

He softly told me, "I am sorry for bringing that up. I had no idea you had to go through that. Why do you put yourself through the same thing every time?"

"Because without that information, many more than just myself will feel pain and death. If I can help save just one more life I will," I tell him. I smile at him and say, "Thank you for listening to that. That's the first time I have ever told anyone the whole story."

He smiles at me and says, "Thank you for trusting me with it." He reaches over and squeezes my hand I have in my lap. I shift around so that I am facing him on the couch with my legs up on it.

I ask him, "Did what he say back there affect you? I know Durza wasn't the nicest," I pause, trying to find the right word, "...host ever."

He sighs and takes back his hand to run it through his hair. He finally says, "I suppose I should have expected Durza to want me back. He was always going on about wanting to break me. Everyday after his session, he would get angrier when I still hadn't. It was like a game to him and he didn't like to lose." He pauses for a little bit looking like he wanted to say something but not knowing if he should. I let him have his silence, if he wanted to tell me, he would.

"Those were the worst days of my life. I never thought I would say that after losing my father but it is true. My days consisted of torture and pain while trying to keep Durza out of my head. Nights weren't much better. They gave me drugged food that made it so that I couldn't use my magic. I was losing my will everyday that went by. When you and Brom broke me out, I felt so relieved that I would never have to go another day with him again. I will do everything I can to never be taken by him again," he states with a burning passion that bleeds from his voice and is enhanced by his glare which is directed at the fire.

I ask him, "You don't have to answer me, I won't be mad, but have you had a happy memory since your dad died. As in a truly happy moment with nothing attached?"

He looks at me with a small frown and stays silent. I don't know if I overstepped my bounds with that one, so I am about to stand up and leave when he finally says, "No, I haven't. When I decided to take this job, I left my homeland and all the people I knew. I traveled so much that I never had the chance to get close to anyone for anything meaningful to grow between us. It's been about one hundred years since I have had the chance to just let go and be happy with someone." He looks at me in bewilderment that he has never realised this before.

I smile lightly and place my hand on his arm and say, "What's the point in being alive if you don't take the chance and live." I stand up and move to the door. "I'll see you later tonight at the meeting. Ryszard and I are going to take some time together and go flying," I tell him.

He nods at me and I close the door softly.

Later in the air, Ryszard is lazily swaying, just enjoying the time we have together where we can forget about everything else and just be.

"I feel sorry for Kierin and how lonely he seems," Ryszard tells me as he watches a hawk circling below us.

"Maybe one day he will find something that makes him happy. After everything that he has gone through, he deserves it," I tell him.

We start making our way back to the keep to attend the meeting. We land and start the walk to the meeting room. "And you wish that he will look to you for his happiness don't you?"

A slight blush reddens my cheeks as he says this. I try to ignore him and keep walking. "I know his face popped into your mind this morning there is no reason for you to deny it," he tells me. Letting out a deep sigh, I send him my feelings on this matter. All the hope, longing, want, but also fear and doubt. He sighs and nudges me with his head and sends me his love and understanding. After that we walk in silence till we reach the room. I take the same seat I did this morning and Ryszard curls up in the corner and we wait for the others to arrive.

All of us take the same seats we had before and Ajihad asks me, "DId you find anything out?"

Nodding at him, I say, "They are massing in Orthiad. They will be on us in roughly six days. A shade named Durza is commanding them. The objective is to defeat us and capture Murtagh and Kierin and take them back to the Empire."

He sits back and thinks this over, "Do you know their numbers?"

Pursing my lips, I say, "5,000"

Everyone sucks in a breath and Hrothgar finally says, "Now that we know where they are coming from we can be more prepared. There are three main tunnels that they would choose from to get here. The best option I think we have right now is to keep them to only one so that we will not have to fight in three different directions. I will talk to some dwarves that know the exact layout of the tunnels running in and around Tronjheim. They can tell me what the best plan will be."

Brom speaks up then, "When we know the direction from which they will get into Tronjheim we will be able to come up with a strategy to win. For now we need to organize the warriors and make sure they are ready for war."

Over the next few days it was a blur of more meetings, training and no personal time for me. I got up early and headed straight to the training ground and practised with all of my weapons, making sure I hadn't gone rusty in any of them. After that, I would eat and then head to a meeting where we would discuss how the preparations were going and what was next on the agenda. When that was done, I would spend a couple hours with Ryszard flying in the skies, with no problems surrounding us. After getting back from that, I would go to the dining hall and eat a meal and then go back to my room and crash. The next day was the exact same routine.

It was the day the Kull were supposed to attack us when everything seemed to calm down around me. Everything that could be done was and all I had to do was prepare myself for the fight. In the morning I had gotten up and dressed in a brown and black dress I kept packed away that I use for fights. It was fashioned more like a coat for at the waist there was a big slit down the middle, the end of the dress stopped around the middle of my calves. I paired it with black leather pants and lace up black boots that went up to my knees. I placed brown bracers on my arms and started to place the armor that King Hrothgar gifted me for Ryszard on. When the last piece was on I stepped back and admired him. He looked fit for war. I told him this much and he seemed to stand prouder and taller.

I was just about to jump onto his back when I heard a knock on my door. Frowning in its direction, I tell Ryszard I will meet him down on the ground in a little bit. He takes off as I walk over to the door and open it. Standing in it is Kierin, we had not had a chance to talk outside of the company of others since that night in his room. I open the door wider to let him in, he walks over to my couch and takes a seat. I follow him and sit next to him and ask, "What brings you here, I was just about to go down to join everyone."

He says, "We haven't had the chance to talk privately since that night and I just wanted to say thank you for making me realise those things. It opened up my eyes to a few things that I want to change in my life."

Smiling at him, I say, "Good, hopefully it won't take you long." I stand up and say, "Do you want to go down? Everything should be getting underway soon."

He stands up as well and moves over to me, "Sure, but first, there is something I must do."

I tilt my head to the side in puzzlement and ask, "What needs to be done? I thought all the preparations were finished."

He smiles at me and brings a hand up to my face and starts to lean in and whispers, "This," as he softly placed his lips on mine. I suck in a breath and decide to just lose myself in the kiss. He moves his hand on my face up into my hair and curls it in there moving my head to get a better angle. I bring my hands up to his chest and slide them along it, feeling his muscles and how hard they are. He slides his lips along mine until I feel like I am going to pass out. He slowly backs away and gently moves his hand back to my face. My eyes flutter open and look into his. He is panting just like me and his pupils are blown so that the green in his eyes look like they are the color of the darkest forest.

I drag in a shaky breath and ask, "What was that for?"

He smiles at me and says, "I realised that since you came into my life that you excite me in a way no one else ever has. You give me a reason to laugh in a time where it should make me angry. That was giving myself a chance to live and be happy."

He bends down again and brushes his lips over mine. Just as he comes, he goes and backs up. He runs a hand through his hair and with uncertain eyes asks me, "That was alright correct? I thought you would like it but I wasn't certain you felt that way about me."

That startles a laugh out of me and I say, "You really have no idea the effect you have on the people around you." I take a couple steps towards him and reach up to straighten his hair. "I feel very strongly about you. It started when I was healing you after we rescued you from Gilead and just continued to grow."

He smiles at me and takes my hand, "We should head down now, they might be wondering where we are," he tells me.

I nod agreeing with him. Just as we are about to leave, I look into the mirror and see that my hair is all over the place. Stopping abruptly, I yank on his hand and go over to the mirror and tell him, "You messed up my hair. I was going to put it up later, but now will have to do." I pull it up to the top of my head and tie it rather tight with a black ribbon, I then braid it down all the way so that none of it is loose. When done, it brushes the small of my back from how long it has gotten. I mentally note that I need to get it cut.

I turn towards Kierin and see that he is leaning against my desk with his hip and has a small grin dancing on his face, "What?" I ask in confusion, "Does it not look good?" I run my hand down it in apprehension.

He walks over to me and takes my hand off it and says lowly, "No, it looks fantastic. I'm just thinking about all the things I could do to you with your hair like this."

That surprises a gasp from me as I look up at him in bewilderment. Slowly a smirk takes over my face as I run my hand down his front and stop just before his pants and lean up to his ear and whisper with my lips softly touching his ear, "Soon you won't just have to think about them."

He puffs out a breath through his nose and I take a step back before we start something else. I turn to the door and say, "Come, we must hurry now. We don't want them to wait any longer than they already have."

Once we make it to the others they are already standing in a group together. Kierin had been paired up with a group of soldiers that would be fighting on the ground. Ryszard and I would be in the air trying to clear up anything that would cause too much trouble and relaying if someone needed any help. I turn and nod at him and send my mind to his. By now we know the feel of each others so he opens his immediately, "Be safe out there. I don't want to have to heal you again."

He nods at me and says, "And you as well. I don't ever want to see you in pain."

We separate and I walk over to a cliff that overlooks the grounds that will house the battle. Ryszard is standing over it looking down at all the soldiers getting there last orders and doing their final preparations. He turns his head to me and send me his happiness for what I have just experienced.

"You were right. He does return my feelings. I think the only other time I have ever felt this happy was when you hatched for me," I tell him.

He lets out a snort of air and says, "When am I ever wrong. You should listen to me more."

I snort and ask Ryszard, "I think the better question is, when are you ever modest?" I sit down on the edge and bring up my knee to rest my head on, waiting for the battle to begin. I gaze out at the crowd below us moving into formations.

We wait for a couple hours for the beginning of the night. During this time I make sure all of the wards I had placed on both of us were still standing strong. I had placed wards for arrows, swords, medals, some I had been taught that would alert me when someone that could use magic got within fifty feet and another that would let me know if someone was trying to sneak up on us from the back. After some time, a scout runs out of the tunnels and into the fray. That is the que that the Kull are almost upon us. I jump up onto his back and peer down waiting for the moment we are needed. It doesn't take long for the sound of hundreds of feet pounding down on a cave floor to be heard all over.

As the first Kull runs out, an archer lets loose a flaming arrow into the tunnels opening. Hours before the battle was to begin the opening had been coated all over with tar. The plan was, to set fire to all the Kull we could, and hope it would stem them into a small stream instead of a giant wave. The arrow hit and immediately the mouth of the tunnel caught on fire. They kept running in and more and more of them would catch on fire as they rushed in. The smell of burning flesh hit our noses and made my stomach roll.

Eventually they just kept coming, that they were climbing over the burning bodies to come at us. The archers sent wave after wave of arrows into their numbers, killing many. But they never stopped rushing over the fallen in search of death. After the fifth wave of arrows, the soldiers on the ground started to advance and began to fight. We were doing a good job of holding them off but they started to trickle back into the troops so that the whole ground was covered with the sounds of battle.

Ryszard jumps into the air and we circle the battle, looking for an opportunity to strike where it would be most helpful. Seeing that they had stemmed the tar fire so that more of their numbers could flow through we dart down and Ryszard opens his mouth and lets out a stream of flames that superheat the air and burns hotter than the fire had produced before. We jet back up and watch as the bodies of the fallen catch fire and burst into an inferno. Their numbers are stuck behind the flames so that they can not support the ones already out on the battlefield.

All of the sudden the flames seem to be sucked back into the cave. Out walks a man with flaming red hair that I immediately recognize by Kieran's description as Durza. He holds his head high and looks around himself with contempt. He walks through the crowds as they unconsciously part around him. We pass by a pillar and he is lost from our sight. When we come back around he seems to have disappeared. I scan the crowds looking for him but can't spot him through the mass of bodies. Ryszard drops back down and tears into a pack of Kull that look to have been sneaking up on what looks like Ajihad and his daughter Nasuada, that I had thought was supposed to have left with the women and children, who were fighting side by side.

Flying on more I see that we are holding our own, but I knew that there were more Kull flooding in. We needed everything to go our way if we were to come out of this with a victory. Reaching a bridge, I hop out of the saddle and join the fight on the ground as Ryszard continues to wreak havoc from the air. I immediately head for the nearest Kull and slice his arm off with Herrschaft. He howls and turns around in fury. As soon as I have a shot, I fling a knife into his eye with my left hand. He goes down and I make my way through the masses, killing many and helping the ones from the Varden, giving them a reprieve. I look up and not twenty feet from me, I see a circle of Kull bodies laying around a figure that is flashing around killing multiple more. I realize that it is Kierin and am grateful that he is alright. I start to cut down the Kull around me in hopes that it will help us in any way.

My ward triggers for a magical being around me. I kill the one I am fighting and do a quick scan of the area surrounding me. I notice I have moved over to the side of the field and am close to a mouth of a tunnel. I steel myself and tell Ryszard that I am going to investigate. I make my way in as quietly as I can. I recognise this as a tunnel that looks over the battle ground below us. Walking down, I feel the presence still in my range. As quick as lightning a sword makes for my head. I deflect it just in time to not lose my life and back up a few steps to get my bearings.

There infront of me is Durza. He walks in a calm and commanding stride that demands respect. He sneers at me and says, "You are the rider? I thought you would be something… more."

Pursing my lips, I reply, "I am what I am. Be that small or big, man or woman it changes nothing for I am still standing here before you."

We slowly circle each other, he seems to have no care for his stance hoping I will become impatient and attack him. But I know that shades are deceitful beings with massive amounts of strength and speed. He will have to come to me if he wants to fight. That has always been my strength, letting others waste their strength until they let up and show an opening for me to take advantage of.

He looks at me with a face of disgust, as if I was not worthy of being on the bottom of his shoe. I have always loved pissing people off when they least expect it. He strikes at me and I block it, this pattern repeats itself for a while, him not getting an opening from me and getting more impatient and angry. I have perfected the art of waiting out my opponent to the point of fatigue and then going in for the kill. He backs off all of the sudden and starts to circle again.

He says, "How does it feel to be all alone in the world? To be the only one of your kind left."

Smiling at him in a sarcastic way, I say, "Exhilarating. For I am never alone. My dragon shall always stand by me."

He says, "Of course. Your dragon. I have no doubt in my mind that I will have full pleasure watching it writhe on the ground because of the agony in it's heart for losing it's rider."

Getting a jab in, I reply, "You will be the one on the floor when I am done with you."

Apparently not liking that response, he comes straight for me full force. We are locked in a fight so intense that all I can concentrate on is the swing of our blades and the blood rushing through my head. Everything else, I block out, trying to get the upper hand in this fight. For I know it is not pretend, this is a matter of life and death. I take a chance and open my mind up a little to Ryszard's link and feel he is flying full force towards me. He plans on crashing through the Star Sapphire to make a distraction. Counting down the seconds until he gets here, I try my very best to keep moving my blades. We fight for a couple seconds and I brace myself when all of the sudden there is a big shock wave and I know he has broken through. Durza does not expect this and looks up. Knowing this is my opening I thrust my blade forward and stab him through the heart. He looks at me for a few seconds in disbelief before his skin starts to burn and crack. Small red spheres of light burst from his body as it burns up and shoots up into the sky. I sag in relief and start to feel all the cuts and bruises that cover my body. I drag my feet over to Ryszard who is picking himself off the ground and shaking himself off. My heart bursts with love for this huge creature, for without him I would most likely not have survived that onslaught.

Reaching him, I wrap my hands around his neck and let loose all my feelings of relief and love for him flow through our link. He wraps his neck around me and sends his straight back. I cry for all the emotions that seem to be never ending, going from one to the other and just continuing in a circle. I open my eyes and see four figures rase through a tunnel into the hall. I recognize Murtagh, Kierin, Brom and Orik who all stop in amazement at the sight of the broken jem littering the floor. Feelings of relief fill me at the sight of them all and that I will not have to grieve over any of them.

Kierin, Brom and Murtagh make their way towards us as Orik keeps gawking at the mess on the floor. Murtagh and Brom stops a few feet from us but Kierin keeps walking straight towards me with a fire in his eyes. He doesn't stop until he has a hand in my hair and slams his lips on mine. The kiss is full of despair and relief for finding me still in one piece.

He slowly pulls back and stares into my eyes and whispers in the Ancient Language, "You have no idea how relieved I am to see you right now. When Ryszard told me that you were fighting Durza, I fought my way out to come help you. Never scare me like that again."

I smile up to him and say, "I can't promise that Kierin. I will promise you that I will not for at least a few more weeks though."

He breathes out a chuckle and brushes his lips against mine once more and then backs up. I turn to look at Murtagh and Brom who are gazing at us in confusion and amusement. Brom shakes his head and tells us, "When you killed Durza, the Kull seemed to come out from under a spell and started to flee back into the tunnels. He was the only thing tying them together."

Nodding, I begin to take a step forward when I feel a muscle pull and I immediately stop and bend down to grasp my upper thigh that Durza had placed a cut. My hand pulls away dark with blood and I grimace at it.

Kierin helps me to sit down and lean back against Ryszard's side. He puts his hand over my thigh and says, "Lijeciti (heal)," the wound heals up and nits back together. I feel no pain or tightness in the area anymore and nod at him. He asks, "Are there any more things that you need healed at this moment. We need to move back and regroup with Ajihad and Hrothgar soon. You need to be in good shape before we do."

Taking a deep breath I concentrate on my body and feel all the bruises and scraps I had collected throughout the night. Nothing life threatening pops out at me, so I shake my head and say, "No, not at the moment. They can all wait for later."

He nods and helps me to my feet. We turn to Murtagh, Brom and Orik, who has joined us, and we all walk to the exit. We continue through the tunnels that start to slowly fill with more members of the Varden as we walk more towards the battlefield.

We make it to an opening and meet up with Ajihad and Hrothgar who are surrounded by people of importance that I cannot for the life of me remember the names of. They catch sight of us and walk over to meet us. Ajihad smiles at me and pronounces loudly, "Behold! Haven Shadeslayer!"

Slowly a ripple of applause starts and begins to build as it reaches a point where I can barely hear Ryszard roaring behind me. I stare in amazement at the masses before me, cheering my name and singing me praises. It slowly dies down until things go back to normal with people trying to save the dying and others identifying the dead. The group around us, that consists of generals and commanders, give us the quick version of how the battle went and how we fared. After about an hour of standing around and listening we were all excused to go rest.

I make my way over to Ryszard's side and look up to his saddle. I know I have made the trip up to it countless times, but right now I don't think I have the energy to even attempt the climb. Kierin steps over to me and wraps his arms around me and climbs us both up Ryszard's side. When we are both settled into the saddle, Ryszard takes off and flies smoothly through the air to our room. He lands softly, but it still jars my body and I flinch and clinch up my muscles and let out a sharp gasp of air.

Kierin slowly helps me down to the ground and I lean against his side in relief, not really grasping how much pain I was in until all of the adrenaline completely ran out of my body. He moves us to the bed and I slowly lower myself to it. I glance over to Ryszard who has laid himself down and is watching me with concern, he can feel all of the pain that I am in and hates that he cannot heal me himself. Kierin kneels before me and takes off my boots and then bracers. He stands back up and asks me, "Do you need help with your clothes as well?"

I sigh and slightly dip my head in a nod, knowing I would just hurt myself more if I were to decline.

He helps me to stand and I point out the belts around my waist and the buttons running up my stomach. He gently undoes everyone of them and I slowly, with a grimace, raise my arms above my head. After that is gone all I have on is a leather bra and underwear. I sit back down on the bed and lay down. Kierin kneels to the side and frowns down at me, he runs his hands lightly over a bruise that stretches over my left ribs that is already a dark purple. He spends a lot of time healing every small thing he can find and then does a second check.

I chuckle and say softly, "They aren't going to appear out of then air Kierin. You healed all of them." I shift slightly and grimace. "Maybe not all of them," I tell him. I turn around and lay on my front so that he can see my back.

My face is turned towards his and I can see a deep frown settled on his face. I tell him quietly, "They aren't going to heal themselves."

He snorts and looks at me in disbelief and says, "How you can joke right now, I will never know. Your whole back is black."

I hum and tell him, "That explains why it hurts so much."

He sets in to heal all my muscles and skin to the condition it was before the fight had damaged it. I watch him as he whispers and concentrates, and am filled with relief that someone like him has decided to return my feelings. This courageous man that charges into battle for the sake of others and wants to just explore the world until every rock is overturned.

As he works, I move my gaze to Ryszard who has been silent this whole time. I know it is not a reason to be concerned. He doesn't speak much, only when he wants to address something of great importance. We mostly speak through sending our emotions to the other because sometimes feelings don't need words to convey a message.

He looks steadily back to me and sends his love and grief at seeing me like this and not being able to do anything for me. He shifts his focus to Kierin who has sat back and does a final scan of my body to make sure he hasn't missed anything. He abruptly turns his head to Ryszard, who I can only guess is speaking to him. He sucks in a breath of air as he seems to be filled with energy once more. They talk for a couple more minutes before Ryszard turns around and faces the opening to the outside, as if guarding against anyone who would dare to enter that way. Kierin looks back to me and is about to speak when I tell him, "I don't need to know what he told you. He wishes to keep it between you two for now."

He smiles at me softly and brushes a strand of hair out of my face and asks, "Would you mind if I stayed here tonight?"

I shake my head and smile at him. He stands up and takes his shirt off. I shuffle over to give him some room. He sits on the edge and bends down to take his boots off. He lays down at my side and wraps his arm around me. I curl into his side as I try to keep my eyes open. The last thing I register before sleep takes me is his lips lightly brushing my forehead.


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: This chapter contains sexual content. If you do not like this or are not 18 years of age or older, do not read. The scenes will be marked when they start and stop.**

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Chapter 8

What wakes me up in the morning is Ryszard jumping out of the cave and into the air, most likely in search of food. I stretch out on the bed, feeling my bones crack in pleasure. I settle back down and sigh in contentment. The covers reach up to my stomach and lightly lay over me. Moving onto my side, I look to the side and see Kierin laying on his back with his left arm that is closest to me bent with his hand under his head. His head is tilted towards me as I quietly study his features. In his sleep, he looks so peaceful and soft. As if nothing in the world bothers him. He slowly cracks his eyes open and looks at me. I give him a slight smile and say, "Good morning."

He sighs and straightens out looking around him. He moves onto his side and looks back at me and says, "Good morning. How did you sleep?" He moves his hand up to caress my face.

I nuzzle into it and say, "Great, I don't remember the last time I slept that peaceful. And you?"

He smiles and replies, "The same. There are groups that are searching the tunnels for any Kull that stayed around. I know Ajihad is in one. Brom and Murtagh are helping to clean up the mess that was made by the battle. The only thing we have to do today is meet up with the others when Ajihad is due back, which is at mid afternoon."

I furrow my brows and ask, "We don't have to do anything? Why?"

He shakes his head and tells me, "You were excused after yesterday and what you needed healed. I told them that I would heal you. They gave us this morning off."

I nod and move around again so that I am laying on my back and place my hand on my stomach and say, "I won't complain with that. What do you want to do?"

He is quiet for a couple seconds so I open my eyes and look at him. He doesn't seem to have heard me. His eyes are roaming over my body and keep going in between my breasts that are still in my leather bra and my hand I have placed on my stomach. The blanket has ridden down just a bit and rests low on my hips. He has a glint in his eyes as they trail along my skin as if he was touching me.

***SMUT***

I wonder if he would go farther than looking, so I close my eyes and start to very slowly move my fingers around in tiny little circles and say, "I don't know the last time I could just relax. Nothing to do for the whole morning. No commitments to see to or anything. What should we do? I could do some training, though if I am supposed to be healing that won't be an option. Hmmm."

I feel his hand cover mine and stop its movements. I look over to him with surprise on my face. He is looking straight in my eyes and says, "The last thing I want to do right now is go and train." He bends over me so that he is half on top of me and says, "All I want right now is to stay in this bed with you and to waste away the hours."

He bends down and places his lips on mine and slowly moves them around. A smile slowly started to creep up on my lips. He bits one and pulled it out, trying to make me react. But one of the things I have found that really turns me on, is when someone bites me in certain places and my lips are one of those. I let out a low moan and shiver a little as my hand comes up to his side and dig my fingers in.

He freezes for a second and pulls back a bit. I open up my eyes a crack to see why and he is looking at me with slitted eyes and is breathing harshly. After a second of staring into my eyes, he immediately dives back in and crushes his lips to mine. He doesn't wait for me to give permission to enter but thrusts his tongue into my mouth and sets to trace every space he can reach.

Letting out a small moan, I bring my other hand up to his hair and grasp onto it to let him know I like this side of him. For minutes, this keeps going on. He will go fast and furious for sometime and then soften it out and lightly caress me. At one point he does this thing with his tongue as he flicks the tip of mine and in surprise I tighten my grip in his hair and tug it back an inch. His lips are just resting against mine as he lets out a deep moan and looks into my eyes. He bends back down to I assume keep kissing me, but goes in for the skin at the side of my neck. He lightly nips and kisses all over the place but never to hard to cause any pain. I can feel myself getting wetter as this goes on. His hand is caressing my side and keeps going higher and lower on each pass. It finally comes to a point where he is cupping my left breast and sweeping his thumb lightly over it. I arch my back, trying to tell him to take the bra off but he doesn't seem to get it.

I pull away, push up onto my elbows and groan out, "Just take it off. You're driving me crazy." He smirks at me for a second and bring his hands to my back. His fingers slowly trace designs all over it when he finally starts to untie the back. When the last one is apart he slowly drags it off and throws it to the ground. I lay back on the bed and watch as he gazes at my breasts. My nipples have been hard since he bit my lip and feel so puckered, I know it is going to be a while until they soften. He moves his right leg in between my spread legs and moves so he is hovering more on top of me. He slowly leans down and kisses the side of my throat as his hand comes back up to my chest and rubs his thumb around the bottom and side, slowly making his way up to the center and my nipple. I gasp as he bites down on my lip and at the same time pinches my nipple. My hips thrust up and bump into his, I feel that he has hardened up and is excited as well. His lips descended down to my chest and he licks a trail down inbetween my breasts. He stops in the middle and goes up my right and flicks the nipple with his tongue once and then softly kisses it and then repeats this with the other.

My hands are trailing up and down his back and over to his front, one will sometimes stray into his hair and give a little tug. After a couple minutes of traveling around my front, he continues down to my rib and places his lips at the start of my scar, trailing them down and to the bottom of it. He comes back up to my face and lays down gently on top of me. His kisses are soft and teasing after what he has been doing. Slowly they come to a stop and he pulls back to bring up a hand and cup my cheek. He says, "You are magnificent. I don't think you could be better if you tried."

Letting out a small smile and I tell him, "Thank you. You make me feel as if nothing else in the world matters when you are with me."

***END SMUT***

We lay in bed for the rest of the day and just talk quietly about little facts about ourselves that neither of us would know. Our position has changed multiple times so that by the time it is to get up and ready I am stretched out on top of him with my head rested on his shoulder and my hand tracing his stomach in little doodles. What alerts us as to the time is Ryszard calling out to me that he will be landing in a minute. I sigh and lean more into Keirin as I know our time is coming to a close. I pick up my head and stare at the opening as Ryszard lands. Kierin whips his head over at the sound and then back to me with a questioning face, asking what he should do.

I smile and slip out of the bed and reach for a bag I had packed my clothes in. I pull out my regular dress and corset with underwear. I turn back to Kierin and say, "He isn't bothered by naked bodies. I can't even count how many times he has seen me without clothes." I set them on the bed and pull off my underwear I still have on and pull the new set up. Taking the corset I put my arms through it and clasp all the hooks in the back. After time it has come second nature to me so I have no trouble doing them all up. I pull the skirt up my legs and up under the corset. I hook the belt on and my jacket. All of my weapons go into their correct places.

When I am done, I take a lock of my hair and pull it up in front of my face. "I'll have to put it up into a braid. I'll take a bath when I have time later," I tell Kierin.

He hums and I look over at him. He is still in bed laying on his back with an arm behind his head. He is looking all over my body and not showing any sign of getting up.

I put a hand on my hip and ask, "Well, are you going to get up anytime soon? We need to be gone pretty soon."

He sighs and lifts the blanket off his hips and grabs his shirt from the floor and pulls it on. He tells me, "I'll need to stop at my rooms and change. I still have blood on this set."

I nod and we walk over to Ryszard who is sitting and staring at us with amusement. He asks, "Are you always this bossy after you just got some?"

I gasp and shoot him a look once I am seated and say, "I am not bossy, thank you very much."

His laughter rings in my head as we jump off and into the air. We land and Kierin and I jump off his back. Walking around we see some of the damage from the fight but not to much since it was mostly kept to the training grounds. The halls are fairly empty as most people are either recovering from injuries or helping with the cleanup. Kierin quickly changes into new clothes that are blood free and we make it down the tunnels to where we are meeting, I am guessing Brom, Murtagh, Orik and everyone else that didn't go on the scouting mission with Ajihad.

When we arrive at the meeting place, Brom and Murtagh are already standing against a wall quietly talking. They see us coming and turn to greet us, Brom says, "You look like you are fully recovered. That's good, we will be very busy in the next coming days."

I smile at him and say, "Thank you, you both are good as well?" I look them over and can't see any injuries that have lasted the night. That doesn't mean they aren't covering them up.

Brom snorts and says, "Yes, we are fine. Not hiding any injuries. You don't have to check every time."

Shooting him a skeptical look and say, "I'll be the judge of that."

Kierin speaks up and asks, " When is the group supposed to arrive back?"

Murtagh says, "Any minute now. Orik and Hrothgar were supposed to be here but had something come up with a dwarven clan."

Kierin nods at him and turns to look at the tunnel. Brom steps closer to me and whispers, "When you have a chance there is something I want to talk to you about."

I furrow my brow, wondering what he wants to talk about and nod at him. We wait for another five minutes just making small talk, until from the end of the tunnel we are looking down, we see a group of people making their way towards us. I can't make out there faces, but I was almost positive that it was Ajihad's group.

Behind me, Ryszard sucks in a breath and screams in my head, "Behind them! Kull!" He lets out a furious roar that shakes the walls around us. He seemed to have said it in all of our minds because we all start running towards them. I know we will not be able to make it to them in time to warn them but we can always try to help fight them. The Kull reach them as we are about halfway there and I can see they have taken the group by surprise. We make it there just as one of them stabs Ajihad in the chest. Kierin is the first to reach them and immediately starts to kill anything in his way. We all join the fight as we close in and I go to the back of the group making sure none of them get away. After about ten more minutes of fighting, all of us are breathing heavily and looking around us. There are no more Kull alive, but there are also no more original members of the scouting group standing. Brom seems to hear something as he rushes over and bends over a body. We rush to his side and look as Ajihad, who seems to be clinging to his last breathe, whispers something in Brom's ear.

Brom takes a deep breath and slowly stands up. He turns to us and says, "He's dead."

We all just stand there for a moment in silence not knowing what to do before Kierin says, "I'll go get some guards that can help move his body and I need to tell King Hrothgar and send Queen Islanzadi a letter as well." He turns around and runs down the tunnel.

Murtagh, who is leaning against a wall, steps toward us and says, "I'll stay here and wait. Both of you can go if you want."

I nod at him and move over to Ryszard and run my hand along his side, just to fill that he is physically there with me right now. I reach further into his mind to feel it surround me, knowing that this magnificent creature will always be by my side for as long as I live if he has any say in it. Brom walks beside me as we make our way back down the tunnel we came from.

He asks me, "Can you come to my rooms? I would like to talk to you now if you don't have anything going on."

I nod at him and say, "Of course. Lead the way." We walk in silence as we think over the situation the Varden is in right now. Not that they know it right now, but they just lost their leader who from what I could see in the short time I have been here was a great man and someone they looked up to. Now after going through a battle, they will also have to mourn their leader and decide who the next one will be.

Ryszard leaps into the air and takes off into the open air. I continue to walk beside Brom on our way to his room. When we get there he opens the door and makes his way in. I follow behind him and see the layout is similar to Kieran's. We move over to the couch and he makes two cups of tea as I set the fire. I sit back and wait for Brom to finish. For, in all the years I have known him, if he isn't ready to talk about something he won't. He finishes making the tea and hands me mine as he sits down. We drink in silence for a while, as I am about halfway through my cup he lets out a big breath and says, "There is something I have kept from you since I met you. In the beginning I just didn't know if I should tell you and then later I had no idea how to tell you." He stops and takes a sip of his tea and is quiet for another minute staring into the fire. "I knew your mother. Her name was Selena. She had gorgeous black hair and brown eyes. She was always looking for adventure because she couldn't stand being stuck in Sindaul. She left one early morning, leaving a note to her parents and brother Garrow. She travelled for years before she met a man and fell in love. They had a child together but after that, he became violent towards the child and wouldn't let her see him but for once a month.

"During this time, she had realised that what she felt for this man was nothing more than devotion and obsession. He was a way out for her and she just got addicted over time. She met another man that worked on her husbands grounds and fell in love with him. Not like the first man though. It happened over months of them talking, she slowly swayed from her husbands control and back into her own. About a year after the first child was born, she got pregnant again, but not by her husband, but from her love she kept hidden.

"She ran away from his house, knowing that she would never be able to take away her firstborn from the cruel man. She road for many months until she reached Sindaul for the first time since she had left all those years before. Her parents had died while she was away for only Garrow was still there. He had married and had a son in that time. He had let her into his house once seeing that she was pregnant. A month later she had her baby, a beautiful girl named Haven. For she was the only safe place she had left in her heart. Selena left the next day, sneaking out and disappeared from her family's eyes once again. She later was killed by her husband, who had learned of her affair. Luckily he had never learned she had become pregnant and had a baby.

"The girl's father had been told her location the last time he saw Selena and when time permitted it for him to go to her he did. He watched over her for many years. Seeing her grow up into a beautiful woman who never took no for an answer and if was given it, would find a way to make it happen for her. She would go out into the world and look for adventure just as her mother would in her early days. But she would always come back."

I am stunned into silence by his story. Knowing that what he is saying is true but not being able to wrap my head around it. We both sit in silence, me not knowing what to say and him fearing what I will say.

I breath out so low I can barely hear myself, "You're my father." I look over at Brom and think to myself 'how could I not have seen it?' Now that I know I am looking for something to be the same, I can see my eyes and nose are his. It is staring me right in the face. I can't help but wonder if knowing that Brom was my father when I was young would have changed anything. I know the answer right away, and it is a resounding yes. While I had lived with him for half of my life, there was always a part of me that thought I wasn't good enough for a real mother and father. Sitting here, thinking about the man Brom is, I understand even more all the things he has done for me in my life.

I let out a huge sigh that moves my whole body and say, "It doesn't change anything now. Back then it might have, but we can't change what is already said and done. That you told me now is what matters. What pushed you into telling me?"

His whole body seems to deflate as he hears my voice. He takes a second to gather his words and tells me, "This battle. I know you have been in fights before, but seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't leave it unsaid. What if I had died? I never would have been able to tell you, and that would have been one of the biggest regrets of my life."

We sit there on his couch for hours, softly talking. Brom told me many things about my mother and why he fell in love with her. He also told me how proud of me he has grown to be. I told him more about my travels and what I had encountered. I also told him that I might have something with Kierin but wasn't sure. He looked at me with furrowed brows and then sighed, "I have known Kierin for many years. The first time I met him was in Ellesmera. When he decides to do something he does it with every ounce of soul he has. He won't walk away from anything he has invested his time into."

I smile at him in thanks for the reassurance he has given me and keep talking about our pasts and what we hope to do in the future.

It was late in the night when Ryszard reminded me that I needed sleep.

Walking to my rooms, I think about what tomorrow will bring. Now with Ajihad's death, someone will have to take the mantle of the Varden. There will also be a funeral held for him and all the ones lost. There will be a coronation for the new leader. Most of all there will be meetings to decide all of these things. I make it back to my rooms and immediately pass my bed in favor of curling up with Ryszard and falling straight to sleep.

The next day, I find myself in the same meeting room that housed the war briefings. Sitting around the table is myself, Brom, Kierin, King Hrothgar, Orik, Jormundur, and four people I have never met. They are introduced to me as the Varden's Council, a group of people that were supposed to be advisors to the leader. Jormundur was on the council as well as Sabrae, Ellesari, Umerth and Falberd. Even after being in the room with them for not ten minutes, I could tell they were not a group to trust. With the exception of Jormundur, they all had calculating eyes and haughty airs about them, as if they were above all in the room. We started out discussing when Ajihad's funeral should be held and had reached a decision it would be held two days from today. The next matter up for discussion was who would be the next leader.

One of the council members, Ellesari, spoke up, "The council has decided to give our vote to Nasuada."

The table was stunned into silence at their suggestion and then Brom says, "Why? What has she done to make her an option for you?"

Falberd says, "She is Ajihad's daughter. It will give the Varden hope when they see her take over after her father."

Orik scoffs and says, "What you mean to say is that she will be easy to manipulate."

Sabrae speaks up and says, "That is not what we mean at all. We simply think that she will help to further the Varden in the future."

Kierin says, "Enough, we will send for her and see what she has to say." He says it with authority that everyone sits back to wait. I ask Ryszard what he thinks of the council and their choice in successor.

"I think they want someone that they will be able to control. They do not have a trustworthy bone in their bodies. I do not know about Nasuada though. The only time I have come across her was when we were in the battle. She disobeyed the order to leave and stayed to fight. The death of her father could shake her up and make her weak, or it could strengthen her," he tells me.

I see the point he makes and the sense in his words. We wait a few more minutes until the door opens again. In walks Nasuada, who is dressed in a black dress for the death of her father. Ellesari says, "Please take a seat. We have something we want to discuss with you."

She walks over and takes the chair at the end of the table were Ellesari pointed to. All is quiet until King Hrothgar speaks up and says, "The council has given their vote for the next leader of the Varden to you. We would like your view on this."

Nasuada stays quiet after this revelation. Finally she seems to draw herself together and straighten even more and says, "It would be an honor to take leadership of the Varden after my father. I have to ask, why did you choose me as your option?"

Jormundur respectfully says, "Since the Varden loved your father we thought that they would like to see you rule behind him."

I thought his answer was well worded but wondered what he thought of getting passed up by a girl half his age. As the commander of the army, he was the obvious choice in succession. Why would he be happy to be passed up?

Nasuada nods at him and says, "If you decide to appoint me as the leader, I will do my best to live up to my father and what he has done in the time he has led us."

King Hrothgar nods his head at her and says, "We will let you know our decision by the end of the day."

She stands up and gives us all a nod and walks out the door. I think on her demeanor and how she looked like she was still mourning the death of her father, but still had the since to question us on why she was picked as the next leader. She would not be someone that will bend to the wills of others. She will stand strong and hopefully help the Varden prosper. After what I just saw, I would give her my vote.

Brom asks, "Well, what do you think of her being the next leader of the Varden? Why don't we go along the table and share our thoughts on this matter."

Kierin is sitting on his right and starts to talk, "I think that she will be an able leader for the Varden. Knowing how good of a leader Ajihad was leads me to believe that she will follow in his steps."

Brom nods at him and says, "Okay that is two for and none against. Haven, your opinion?"

I am about to speak when Umerth speaks for the first time, "Two? Kierin is the only one who has spoken as of yet."

Brom answers, "The council and Kierin have already given their vote for Nasuada. The only ones left are myself, Haven, Orik and King Hrothgar. Now Haven if you would please."

I nod at him and say, "After seeing how she handled herself in that situation, I would be confident in saying she will make a spectacular leader. She has my vote." Brom looks at me with pride in his eyes and then turns to the others.

He looks everyone in the eyes and then eventually says, "After all of the leaders I have seen come and go from the Varden, I think Nasuada will fit in perfectly with any of them. She has a strong will that will not easily be bent by the pressures of others. She is much like her father in that regard, but she is also someone completely different. She will bring around a new era for us and I am proud to say I give her my vote."

In all of the years I have known Brom, he never gives praise when not earned. To hear him say that about Nasuada gives me hope that just because their leader is dead, they are not hopeless. King Hrothgar is the next in line and he says, "If she is anything like her father, who was a great leader, the Varden will not be lacking in anything when she is in charge. She has my vote."

Orik had the shortest response at, "Aye, she has mine as well."

Brom nodded his head in finality once everyone had given their answers and declared, "Then it is done. Nasuada will be informed of this tonight. Ajihad's funeral will be held in 2 days and Nasuada's coronation will be held the day after that. We will have another meeting tomorrow midday to discuss more issues that will come up." He stands up and walks to the door and away before any of us can get up from our seats. I try to think of a reason for his demeanor and can only come to the conclusion that the talk of Ajihad's death and his daughter having to take over for him got to Brom in some way.

King Hrothgar and Orik are the next to leave, whispering in hushed tones in their guttural language. I am about to get up when I hear, "Haven, there is something we wish to ask you."

I turn and see that it was Umerth that spoke. I nod my head at them trying to think of a reason that they would want to speak to me. All of the possibilities that are floating between Ryszard's and my minds are not the most trustful. I notice Kierin has remained seated and is looking at them with a blank face. Usually when he is wearing that expression he is trying to figure out someone and their motives.

Sabrae continues where he left off, "The Varden's moral is at an extreme low right now after the battle and the death of their leader. While Nasuada will give them something to cheer about, we think as the council, that the people need something else to rally behind. We have not had a dragon and rider in these halls for many years." A feeling of dread and understanding, as well as fury started to crawl through me, "As a group, we feel as if it would be the best thing if they showed they will back the Varden for as long as they could. It will give everyone a sense of calm and help them to believe that we can win this war against Galbatorix. We wish to ask you if you will swear fealty to the Varden so that the people will rejoice and have hope."

I sit there in silence, expelling all the control I have to not lash out at these people for their audacity to ask me this. I look at everyone of their faces and can see the hidden glee and greed in their eyes. While I do this I am conversing with Ryszard, trying to outmaneuver these failing manipulators. When we have come up with a plan I turn my full attention back to them and can see the anger they are trying to hide because I didn't jump at the chance to swear fealty to them, for that is what I would basically be doing.

My voice is clipped and short when I say, "No."

Ellesari recoils as if I had struck her when I answered, "No?" she asks in disbelief.

I nod, "No. Rider's do not answer to anybody but themselves. We rule over ourselves and nobody else. As such nobody has the right to ask them to swear fealty to them. Ryszard and myself will always help the Varden when able, but we will not be tied to it or the whims of its leaders." I watch as their faces twist as if they smelled something sour as I say this. They are quiet after that so I stand and nod at them, "Have a good day. I am sure you have much to plan for the next couple days."

I walk quietly out of the door and lean on the wall outside once I am out of their view. I close my eyes and let out a big sigh, shaking my head at the balls they had to ask that of me. I open my eyes and see Kierin leaning against the same wall facing me with a curious expression on, most likely thinking about my answer to them back there.

I smile at him and move to his side as we walk down the hall. We continue for awhile in silence. I watch the walls around us and know I haven't been down these tunnels before. Wondering where we are going, Kierin stops at a door and turns to me. "I made this when I first came here many years ago. It was a way to remember home while being so far away," he says. He opens the door and lets me in first.

As I walk into the room I smell a burst of freshness, as if I had stepped into the forest and not a stone room in a mountain. The first thing I see is green surrounding me with pops of color intermingled in. The room is a huge garden with trees, bushes and flowers growing everywhere. The trees make a circle around the room and once you get past those there are all kinds of different flowers placed throughout. I walk forward slowly as if in a trance towards the middle and see a small pond with fish circling it. A bench is placed facing the pond so I take a seat and just take everything in. Kierin sits beside me and takes my hand as we stay quiet, just breathing in the feeling of peace the room gives us. He lightly plays around with my hand, tracing my fingers and the veins that run through it. I lean more towards him so that my left side is resting on his right.

I couldn't tell how long we just sat there in the quiet, not having to care about the world outside of us for just a small amount of time. Finally, he tells me, "I am proud of how you handled the council, they can be manipulative people when they want to be. You did a fantastic job of turning their plan against them."

I smile and turn my head so that I am facing him and say, "Thank you, but Ryszard had some input in that speech. He didn't like the way they were trying to order us around. I have had to deal with way more complicated people before. They will need to up their game if they think they are going to trick us into anything we don't want." I give him a sly smirk letting him know I am being truthful.

He lets out a small chuckle as he looks down at my face and places a small peck on my lips. We fall back into silence as we sit in peace. I think of the next few days and what they will hold; Ajihad's funeral, Nasuada's coronation, and then I need to plan on what to do with the egg now that the battle has ended. I frown and ask Kierin, "What of the egg? It will need to be brought back into Du Weldenvarden."

He nods and thinks it over for a couple seconds and answered, "As the last free dragon rider it is your responsibility to see to its protection. That will mean you need to come with me to Ellesmera. You also need to finish your training and that can only be done there."

I see the truth in what he says and wonder what will happen while there. I ask him, "Did you have an idea as to when you would be leaving?"

He nods and says, "Now that the dates have been set for the coming days, we will leave the morning after Nasuada's coronation. I would like to get a head start and not dally around here."

Humming, I squeeze his hand that is still playing with mine and realize just how tired I am. My eyes are dropping and do not want to stay up. Kierin notices this and stands up and tugs on my hand. I frown at him and ask, "Why are we leaving? It's so nice in here, it feels as if the rest of the world has disappeared."

He fondly smiles at me with humor in his eyes and tells me, "You are falling asleep just sitting here. It has been a long day. Why don't we come here tomorrow morning? I do believe we have nothing on our schedules for the day. We can spend it relaxing here."

I perk up at the question and rapidly nod my head, loving the idea. Once we make it to my rooms, we share a kiss that doesn't last long for my eyes are still trying to fall to the ground. Walking in, I see Ryszard land at the edge and makes his way over to me. I slowly undress and curl up beside him as we both fall asleep.

The next day, I wake up with the sun and took a quick bath to feel refreshed for the day. I put on a pair of light brown leather pants and a cream colored corset jacket over my bra. Just as I am lasing up my boots there is a knock on my door. I walk over to the door and open it. As expected, there is Kierin standing outside. Dressed as always in his blue shirt and brown pants. I smile at him and open up the door more so that he can fit through.

Once he is in, I shut the door and turn to go back into my bedroom, "One second, I need to get my weapons," I call to him. Walking over to my bed, I see Ryszard is still asleep and snort knowing he will stay that way for the rest of the day if nothing wakes him up now. Deciding to let him sleep since we have had a long week and more to come, I turn back to my bed and start to put my weapons back onto my body. I see Kierin watching me as I do this.

Putting my dagger on last, I turn to him and smile, "I'm ready. Why don't we head down there now?"

He picks himself up from where he was leaning against the wall watching me get ready. He reaches out with his arm for me to take it as we walk down. We walk in silence, it isn't an awkward silence just that we are content to just walk the tunnels together. Reaching the door, Kierin opens it up for me and I take a step into the room. Everything is the same as yesterday, from the trees, to the flowers and the pond. It brings a smile to my face that hurts to keep on but I would never dream of letting drop. We sit on the bench again and he asks me, "How did you sleep last night? You looked rather tired when I left you last night."

"Fantastic," I say as I grab his hand today to play with, "After you left I went straight asleep. I slept through the whole night and woke up with the sun. Ryszard will probably sleep until the sun is in the middle of the sky if nobody wakes him up." I trace in between his fingers and down to the tips of his fingers. "How about you? Did you sleep good?"

He hums and moves so that his arm is wrapped around me instead and his hand is sitting in my lap. "Not that well. I dropped you off and when I was about to go into my rooms Brom asked me to speak with him. The talk lasted a couple hours and I didn't get back to my rooms until well past the middle of night," he says.

I frown up at him and say, "You could have slept in a little bit. I wouldn't have been mad at you if I had to wait a couple hours."

All he does is give me a soft smile and a small peck on the forehead as he rests his head lightly on mine. I wonder if he thought he was obligated to show up anyway because of his upbringing and that was the way he was taught. He is one of the most polite men I have ever met and I guess that might be the way elves are but he seems to take it to another level when he feels the need to. Sometimes I can hear the insults in his voice when he is trying to be polite with people who are trying his patience though so I know he has some daring in his body.

I stand up and pull on his arm as he stays sitting, he has an amused and curious look on his face. After a couple seconds of me repeatedly tugging on his hand, he finally gets up with a long sigh and I smile brightly in triumph. I walk over to a little grassy area and lay down. I look over to him and see that he is still standing above me and not lying beside me. I pat the area as if to tell him to get down already. He does, with a shake of his head, lay beside me and stretches out so that he is laying on his side with his head lying on his arm facing me and places his left hand back in mine when I reach for it.

Not long after, he falls into a light sleep as I watched the plants in the room sway to a breeze that had to be magical. While he was sleeping, I stayed by his side and continued to watch him, the flowers and converse with Ryszard who had finally awoken from his sleep. Ten minutes after I had said bye to Ryszard, Kierin woke up and said, "You are the most manipulative person I have ever meet." His voice was all gravelly from sleep that my stomach fluttered when I heard it. His comment startled a full blown laugh out of me, I eventually calmed down into small giggles that I couldn't help as I watched him. He was smiling at me with fondness and something else in his eyes I couldn't tell.

We end up sitting against a tree that is behind us, his back is to it and I am reclining against him in between his legs. His arms are wrapped around me, his mind comes out to mine and I open up for him. We don't talk, we just share our feelings with each other. Sometimes we bring up specific things and share our feelings about it but we never feel the need to talk out loud about anything. I can't tell how long we sit until he reaches over for something but keeps his hands closed around it as I try to see what it is. He says, "I don't know much about your culture but elves sing flowers and give them as gifts to people they trust and have feelings for." He opens his hands and sitting in them is a mound of dirt. His voice sounds out as he starts to sing in a soft voice that slowly transforms a mound of dirt into a budding flower. A small sprout comes out and keeps growing as a bud breaks free. Out of the bud comes a purple Iris that fans out around his hands. I softly pick it up and cradle it in mine so not to hurt it. The petals are a vibrant purple and in the middle of them is a burst of yellow. I know the meaning of the flower but wonder why he would give it to me.

I ask him, "Why?" My voice is soft as to not break the moment.

He takes the flower from my hand and whispers, "Staklo (glass)." The flower becomes encased in a ball of glass so that it will never die or be crushed and stay as beautiful as it is right now. "Because wherever you go people give you respect, not because you demand it but because they want to. You might not see it but people ask for your opinion because they can see the wisdom your words hold. Also because you have opened my heart up again after so many years that I thought I would never feel the touch of love ever again before I died," he tells me as I look into his eyes. I smile at him and reach up to give him a kiss, one filled with love and affection. I pull back and ask him, "How do I sing a flower?"

He takes a handful of dirt and places it in my hands that I have cupped in front of me. "Let your power coat your voice as you sing. Sing of the flower you want and what it represents. Everything you want it to mean and look like. If you think it needs to go in let it. The words will flow out of you," he says.

I let out a sigh as I think of the flower I want that represents everything he embodies. I let my shields around my power slowly down as I start to sing. I can feel my power affecting Kierin as his arms tighten around me and his lips press into my neck as he sucks in a breath trying to regain control of himself. I put all my feelings into the words and a bud starts to form and grow into a circle. The petals start to fall open to expose bright pink and red colors. My voice comes to an end as they stop moving out and you can see the soft colors of yellow, green and white on the inside petals. I whisper the same word he did to make a glass ball around the flower as he takes it softly out of my hands. I bring the shields I have back up, not wanting anything to happen before I forget to.

For some reason, I can see my flower let out a soft glow every time it catches the light as if it has its own source. The smell of the flower still wafts out from the glass as if it wasn't even there. I guess the power I have over my voice gave it more powers and let the flower grow into something that will let everyone know it was there.

Kierin is quiet for a while until he asks, "What kind of flower is it? I have never seen it before."

I lean more into him as I stare at it and smile fondly, "It's name is King Protea. It is found all over the Spine and mostly in meadows. It represents transformation, daring and courage. You are one of the most courageous person I have ever met for taking your life in your own hands. You dare everyone in the room to go against you and not to take you seriously. For the transformation you have gone through in all that time and all of the developments you had to make to turn you into the person you are. For if none of that had happened you might not be the person you are today. Who is someone that I tell things that I have never told anyone save for Ryszard. I trust you with my whole being. I have never let my shields down fully in front of anybody by choice before. With you, I have no doubt you won't be swayed and take it for granted."

***SMUT***

He sets it to the side next to the flower he gave me and takes my face in his hands and stares into my eyes and lets his mind touch mine with no walls up as he shares his thanks and gratitude for me. His emotions take the breath out of me as I feel some of the loneliness that has been at the back of his mind for years, waiting for someone or something to take it away. My lips surge up to meet his with the passion that overflows between us. He hungrily returns my kiss as we keep our minds open to each other. The angle is awkward for I am still sitting in between his legs but I can't seem to pull away to fix that. His right hand comes up and twists in my hair so that he can pull my head more to the side so he can get a better angle at my mouth. He nips at my bottom lip and I let out a low whine and break the kiss.

I get up on my knees and move around so that I can straddle his hips. Once both of my legs are on either side of his, I resume the kiss immediately. There is something about his lips that keep bringing me back to them like none have before. I place my hands on his jaw as he deepens the kiss and starts to explore my mouth. His hands come up to my hips and pull me in tight so that they are flush to his. I can feel how excited he is and has been since I used my power. His tongue doesn't seem to be in any hurry as he takes his time mapping out my mouth. Nothing about him is in a rush and is perfectly content to find everything there is for him to find out about me. I push mine into his mouth after a while wanting to get a taste of him. He lets me and starts to rub his hands up and down my back as I explore him just as he did to me. One of his hands runs up my back and up into my hair, making a fist, he pulls me back so that he can run his lips down my neck. At one point, he stops behind my ear and takes the skin in between his teeth and tugs. I let out a moan as I throw my head back more and grind my hips into his. He lets out a deep chuckle and places a soft peck on the spot and keeps moving down.

He can't go to far since my top is rather high cut so he pulls up and reaches for the bottom of it and looks into my eyes with raised brows. I nod at him and bring my arms up over my head waiting for him to take it off. He slowly raises it up and off and tosses it to the side of us. His hands settle on my waist and he rubs his thumbs on top of my ribs. His eyes are steadily looking at my breasts that is still covered by my bra. It is one that lets a large amount of cleavage on display but is covered by criss crossing straps across the front. He glances back up into my eyes for a second and then back down and shakes his head and says, "What you do to me."

I giggle and bring my hands up to his shirt and trail them down to the hem and start to pull it up, "I do try," I tell him as I drag it up over his head and bite my lip as his chest comes into view. I knew he had muscles because I had seen them before but they still seem to leave me breathless everytime I seem them again. I put my right hand on his sternum and lean back down to place my lips over his heart. Leaving a small kiss there, I move over and trail my lips to the middle and give a little nip where my hand was. I trail my hand down his stomach and stop right before I hit his pants. My lips trail over and suck his small nipple into my mouth and give it a stinging nip and pull back to grin at him.

His eyes are heavy as he gazes at me and lets out a small smirk. His fingers lightly trace the strings on my bra over my breasts until I can't take it anymore and pull the thing off myself. I fling it over to where our other clothes are and bring my arms back over his shoulder and duck down for another kiss. He brings one hand off my waist and cups a breast and flicked a nipple. I let out a whimper and sink further into his lap to grind my hips more firmly into his. He pulls back a bit to watch me as he pinches and pulls my right nipple and steadies me with his other hand. I sink further into him and rest my hands on his legs behind him and let out more whimpers and gasps for air as he finds another weak spot of mine. My nipples have always been super sensitive. He switches to the other one and continues teasing me. My hips start to make small circles trying to find some stimulation as he keeps bringing me higher but never giving me anything else. The roughness of my pants are rubbing against my clit and keeps brushing against his erection as he brings his other hand up to play with both of my breasts at the same time. I tighten my hands on his legs as he does this and throw my head back gasping for air as I can feel my orgasm just at the edge needing something to push it over. He seems to sense this for at the same time he pinches both of my nipples and rolls them roughly. I let out a big moan as I feel myself tip over and choke on a breath, "Kierin." My hips continue to grind against his as I feel pleasure surround me as small whimpers keep escaping me.

When I finally start to calm down, I bring my head back up from where it had tipped back and stare at Kierin as I try to catch my breath. His hands are lightly resting on my hips again as he watches me calm down. His fingers are softly rubbing my skin but I can see the tension he still has all over his body. I have this urge to see him lose control just like I did. Placing my hands on his stomach, I bring them down to tug on his pants waist as I give him a teasing grin. My right hand runs over to the laces in the middle and unties them. He runs his hands down my thighs and back up to my hips to grip as I tug the flaps apart. His dick comes out as there is nothing containing it anymore. I admire him as I grip the shaft and give a small tug. He lets out a sigh and leans back some more on the tree behind him. He watches me as I explore him.

He isn't the thickest I have ever seen but he is the perfect mixes of length and width that I can tell will fill me to perfection. I give a small hum of appreciation and run my thumb over the head. He lets out a shiver of pleasure and looks into my eyes as he gives a nudge with his mind to remind me that we have been connected this whole time. I realise he has been feeling my pleasure this whole time and is already close to the edge from my climax. I moan at the thought of him feeling my pleasure and of me feeling his. It is a huge turn on to feel the pleasure I am giving him myself. He chuckles at my thought and thrusts his hips into my hands to let me know I could pick up my pace. I return my attention back down to his dick and pick up the speed of my hand as I flick his tip every time I reach the top. My other hand comes down and trails a finger to run lightly over his balls as he lets out a small moan. I can tell he is close for his right leg is twitching every so often and his hips are pumping into my hand more regularly. My left hand goes to the head of his cock and rubs tight circles over it as my right picks up the pace going up and down him.

One of his hands is balled up beside his hips and the other is gripping my thigh, his eyes are heavy lidded as he watches my face as I bite my bottom lip at the sight of him losing control. Just as he goes over the edge, he throws back his head and lets out a moan and calls out, "Haven." His cum shoots out all over, the first jet lands across my chest for I am leaning over him and the rest cover his stomach and my hand still gripping him. I slow down as he starts to settle down and take deep breathes. I rest my hand on his hip as I look him over and try to memorize how he looks right now, content and no worries plaguing his mind. He is always so stiff when we are in the presence of others but when it is just us, he relaxes and lets his true self show.

Kierin finally opens his eyes again as he smiles at me and straightens back up against the tree. He looks me over and sees the mess on my breasts. He tucks himself back in his pants and stands up and reaches out for my hand, using it I stand beside him and he leads the way to the small pond. "Come on, let's go clean up," he says as we walk over to the edge. He pulls off his pants and leaves them on the bench. I take off my pants and set them on the bench as well but decide to wash off my underwear. I take them off and quickly rinse them out and set them on the bench as well. I move into the water beside Kierin and we walk into the deepest part of the water that only goes up to Kieran's waist. He helps me run water down my chest so I can clean it off and then I run my hands over my vagina to get off my release that had got caught in my pants.

I look up at Kierin to see him staring at me with a fond smile on his face. My fingers curl into the hair at the nap of his neck and start to play with it. Some doubt floats into my mind for not all of the people I had been with had been there for long.

He must of sensed that in my mind for he brings a hand up to my face and makes me look into his eyes, "I love it. There is nothing about you I would change. Don't ever doubt that." He kisses my forehead and wraps his arms around me to bring me flush against him.

***END SMUT***

I can feel the sincerity in his mind and wrap my arms around him as well and we stand there wrapped in each other. Both of us are content to just relax against each other until we start to feel pangs of hunger and decide to go get some food. We redress and pick up the glass flowers on our way out. We decide to close our minds to each other once again and I loop my arm through his as we walk down the tunnels to the dining hall. We walk in and pick up some bread, cheese and meats. I look over for an empty table when I see Brom and Murtagh sitting at a table by themselves and tap Kieran's arm to steer him over to them. When we reach them they don't seem to notice us for they are whispering quietly to each other. I ask them, "Can we join you?"

They both whip their heads over to us and Brom quickly says, "Of course," as he and Murtagh move over to make room for both Kierin and I. I sit beside Murtagh and give him a smile as Kierin sits down by Brom. We make small talk as we all eat our food, for Brom and Murtagh must have been in a deep conversation not to have touched the food they had gotten. Murtagh seems to be fitting in with the Varden as they start to give him their trust. He looks as if a weight has been lifted of his shoulders now that people don't look at him with mistrust as much as they did. Though they both seem to have been discussing something important before we interrupted them. After we finish, Kierin catches my eye and silently asks me if I want to let them finish.

I stand up and tell everyone, "I am going to go fly with Ryszard for a while. I'll see you all soon."

Kierin also stands up and says, "There are some letters I need to go over and write. I shall see you tomorrow at the funeral." He nods at them and we both move over to the door and walk back up to my rooms.

We walk in through the door and I go straight to my desk and set the glass flower down so that I will always see it. Kierin went over to the couch and set the fire ablaze so that the room would be lit up with light and warmth, for the cave walls made it rather cold and drafty. I settle down beside him and curled up to him. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head and placed his on top of mine. We sat in silence just warming up by the fire all wrapped up in each other.

It had to be late at night when Ryszard contacted me and said, "You will need your rest for tomorrow. It will be a most trying day."

I sigh and straighten up to place a kiss on his jaw and say, "We should go to sleep now. The funeral is tomorrow and we do not want to be falling asleep during it." I move up and off the couch and turn to see Kierin doing the same. He runs a hand through his hair, which he only does when he is nervous or to tired to remember not to.

We walk over to the door and he turns back around to me before opening it and says, "Would you like me to meet you here before the ceremony?"

I nod and tell him, "Yes, that would be nice. I would rather not go down by myself. I will be ready by midday if you would pick me up then."

He smiles at me and leans down to give me a soft kiss and says, "It would be my pleasure. I'll go now and let you get some rest. Sleep well and please tell Ryszard the same. I haven't seen him in sometime. I would like to tomorrow perhaps, maybe after the funeral?"

I hum and Ryszard lets me know his answer. "He would like that. He says maybe we could go for a flight later tomorrow," I pass along to him. I reach up and give him a sweet lingering kiss and say on his lips, "Thank you." Stepping back down I smile up at him.

He has a curious look in his eyes as he asks me, "For what?"

I shrug and say, "For today. I loved just spending the day with you. For being you. You made it just that much better."

A smile grows on his face as he hears my answer and when I am done he reaches down and pecks me on the lips and says, "You're welcome. Thank you for spending it with me." He backs up and turns out of the door and walks off back to his rooms for the night.

I sigh and close the door and walk through my study into the bedroom and see Ryszard sitting staring out into the air at the edge of the room. I walk over to his side and lean against him as we share our feelings on what happened today. We very rarely talk about anything because we knew each other so much that we could tell what was needed just from each others feelings. We could sooth, congratulate, despair and explain ourselves with nothing but a touch. I loved that about him; that I didn't have to find the words to express myself with him, just let him in and let him feel.

We stand there together for some time before I start to get tired and we curl up together on the big cushion. A small part of me wishes that tomorrow will not come for I haven't been to a funeral since Garrow's all those years before. I know that it will bring up bad memories and emotions in the coming days and am not looking forward to it. I fall asleep to the sound of Ryszard's deep breathes and the comfort he gives me by being by my side.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I awake the next day to the sounds of birds softly calling out and the warmth of Ryszard behind me. Letting out a deep breath, I stretch and prepare myself for a long day. After a couple minutes, I stand up and make my way over to the washroom to relieve myself. Walking back into the bedroom, Ryszard is standing by the opening and turns to ask me, "Would you like to take a ride?"

I beam up at him and tell him, "That would be lovely. Let me just get dressed first." After dressing in my usual attire of corset and skirt, we jump out into the open air and lose ourselves to the freedom and unity of the open air.

We stay up for a couple hours before the cold starts to get to me and we slowly make our way back. It feels like it has been to long since we have been able to do that. Just the two of us get lost in the sky as if there was no worry in the world. It is a sobering thought that we won't have a chance to truly just let go and be free for many years if at all anymore. So much has changed since we found the blue egg, but I can't say that I would change anything now that I have the chance to look back. I found out that Brom was my father, we have a cause that we are willing and happy to fight for and I found someone other than Ryszard who I can confide all of my thoughts and feelings with. It surely could be worse so I see no need to cry over the little things we have lost to what we have gained.

We land and I jump off him to go to the bags I have over in the corner of the room that I have various things packed away in. I take one that has a selection of dresses I keep in the case of special events. I had picked up many in the towns and cities I had visited over the years. One such dress I have packed away is a black dress that I will wear for the funeral. One tradition that I have noticed spans over the various cultures of this land is the color black represents the death of someone close. Laying the dress out on my bed, I walk into the bathroom and get the water flowing into the tub. Heating it up with a spell, I wait until it is the right temperature and then lower myself in. I go through my normal routine and let the oils soak in my hair until it feels smooth and soft.

Stepping down and out of the tub, I grab a towel and dry myself off. Walking back into the bedroom, I study the dress and decide to forgo a bra for it would show in the back. The black gown was made in a city named Carnise that was located on the coast of Altaria. It was famed for its fashion and design throughout the land. I slip it over my head and tie up the sash on the back. I smooth the fabric down and move over to the mirror to fix my hair. Looking at it, I decide to leave it mostly down but to contain it in braids that lace over most of the hair.

Satisfied with the end product, I step back and admire the outfit. I decide to not put on any jewelry to stay simple. The last thing I add is a couple of my weapons. I slip in a couple knives in my boots and the sash around my waist. I had the seamstress add a couple pockets around the dress so that I could hide a few in there as well. I only have five in total on me but I think that will be fine for tonight.

Seeing that I will not be able to ride on Ryszard tonight without giving anybody a show, I go and sit behind my desk and read a book while I wait for Kierin. I pick up the book that is in Deutsch that I found in the library that one day in which I met Angela. Kierin had later told me that she had fought in the battle and had survived. I had been happy to hear that for she seemed to be a person that I would like to know.

I pick up reading where I left off that day in the library and continued to read about how the population of Siren's were both feared and revered. People revered them for their beauty, voice and kind nature. Some people came to fear them because of their beauty and how their voices could control people. You didn't have to have a Siren for a parent to be one, but it was very rare for someone not to. All of them could make you believe in what they were saying but some select few that practiced could control your every movement. It didn't matter how good someone's mental shields were, if you heard their voice, it was as if you were a mindless servant. The book spoke about how most Siren's were peaceful and kind, but a select few would become bad and control anyone that came across them for their pleasure. The people started to fear all Sirens and hunted them down to near extinction. They were forced to leave the land and find shelter in the ocean to survive. At the time the book was written, it was believed that there was still a population that had made a city at the bottom of the ocean and would occasionally surface. Most of the time they would be sighted around the city of Roland, which I have visited before, and would hang around the small islands off shore.

I set the book down lightly and stare off into nothing as I think about what the book said. Could there be more like me still out there? The book looks as if it was hundreds of years old, would they still be out there?

Ryszard tells me, "We can always go and check when we have the time. It is always an option."

A sad smile stretches my lips as I say to him, "I would love that. I just can't believe that I was so close already before." I huff and shake my head. I have no more time to think on it for there is a knock on my door. I close the book and set it off to the side to look at more later.

I shake my head and push my thoughts to the back of my mind and open the door. On the other side is Kierin who looks rather good in black pants and a deep green shirt. The colors make his eyes more prominent than they are usually. A smile creeps onto my face as I look back up at his face and see the surprise written all over it. His eyes keep roving over my body and the dress that drapes over me.

I ask him, "Is it okay? It's really the only thing I have that would be appropriate for a funeral."

He shakes his head at me and with laughter in his voice says, "Yes, its okay. More than okay. You look beautiful in it." He places his hand on my cheek and gives me a light kiss.

I pull back and tell him, "You don't look to bad yourself," and give him a smile, "Is it time to head down now? I kind of lost track of time reading a book."

Giving me a sad smile he says, "Yes. Everyone will be meeting in the great hall. They want us to be at the head of the line behind Nasuada."

I take a deep breath and feel Ryszard take off to wait for us at the bottom of the keep as I close the door and we start the trek down.

We walk mostly in silences all the way down. My arm is wrapped in his and we walk lightly pressed together to find some comfort in this day. Ryszard is sitting down when we approach him. He turns his head to watch us as we walk over. When we reach him I smile up at him and he gives me his feelings of love through the bond. He turns his head to look at Kierin and seems to talk with him for a few minutes. He huffs out a breath and stands up on all four legs. Lifting an eyebrow at the exchange, I follow him with Kierin by my side.

As we reach the more frequented tunnels, more and more people start to show up. All of them are dressed in funeral clothes for today and have withdrawn demeanors. When they see the three of us walking by they would start to whisper to each other and some would even smile and nod at me.

Their behavior mostly confused and surprised me because just a couple days ago they were avoiding me and would walk away when they saw me coming near them. Just as we were about to turn a corner to another tunnel, a boy walks up to me holding a flower in his hand. He keeps looking at the ground and back up to my face as if trying to find the courage to talk.

I see that we would be here all day if I wait so I bend down so that I am his height and smile at him. I ask him, "Hello, what's your name?"

He bites his lip and mumbles, "Davi," he bites his lip and looks back to the ground and timidly raises his eyes.

I smile at him and say, "That's a strong name. Mine is Haven."

He beams at me and reaches out his hand with the flower in it. I ask him in disbelief, "That's for me? Are you sure, it's so beautiful? Wouldn't you like to give it to someone else?"

He is still beaming at me and says louder, "No, it's for you. You're the most beautiful person here today."

The smile on my face becomes brighter, "Well thank you, kind sir. I have to say you are just as handsome if not more," he starts to look bashful again so I tell him, "Never change who you are. You are one of the sweetest most kind person around."

He beams at me again and gives me a little wave as he turns around and runs to a group of people that I assume are his family. I stand back up and nod at the mother and father who are looking in my direction.

Looking back down at the flower in my hand I see it is a white Calla Lily. Back home I know they are presented at a funeral but yesterday Kierin had told me a bit about the meanings of flowers over here and they symbolize beauty and overcoming challenges. I smile down at it and place it in my hair so that I will not lose it. The little boy gave me a present at the right time that I didn't even know I needed.

I turn to Kierin who while having a mostly blank face on, his eyes have a hint of adoration in them. I smile confused at him and he says, "You are fantastic with kids. It is just rather nice to see."

I let out a small laugh and turn back around to continue our walk, "Back in Sindual, I would teach the kids to read and write when I was in town. After a couple years you kind of learn how to make them comfortable with you."

He hums and squeezes my hand as we walk up to two guards standing in front of two great doors. They nod at us and open them so that even Ryszard will be able to fit. The only people in the room at the moment are the three of us, Murtagh and Orik. The others are no doubt on their way. Just as I think this, King Hrothgar and Brom make their way in while talking about something. We all greet each other and just have to wait for Nasuada and the Council. Nasuada is the next to walk in followed closely by the Council who look like they are getting on her last nerve going by the expression on her face.

Not wanting her to get more upset on this day, I make my way over to her and say, "Nasuada, how are you today?" Hoping I could help her escape these people.

She gives me a small smile but I can see the gratitude in her eyes as she answers, "Better, thank you and you?"

"Better as well. I am always here if you would like someone to speak to. Remember that yes?" I tell her as I make shifty eyes to the people behind me.

A small grin lights up her face as she gets the meaning of my words and nods at me.

I walk back over to Kierin and see he is talking to Murtagh. They seem to be talking about something mildly serious as I walk over but do not change the conversation when I make my way to their sides.

"... is getting better. Not as many people give me mistrustful looks anymore. Mostly they just ignore me as I walk by. There are a fair few that do nod at me and don't shy away," Murtagh says. He gives me a small grin as he sees me and his eyebrows lift as he sees the dress I am wearing. He tells me, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I say, "You look good as well. I am glad you are fitting in better."

Just as he is about to speak, Umerth says loudly, "It is time for the procession if you will get in line."

We are directed in a line with Nasuada in front followed by the Council. After them is King Hrothgar and Orik followed by Kierin, Brom and Murtagh. Ryszard and I end off the line.

He pulls himself together and seems to project an air of magnificence that usually stays in the background. I run my hand around his side as we wait to move forward. He projects a wave of calm and power to me as the giant doors open and we walk out into a crowd of sorrow filled faces.

This is the part I was dreading the most. The feelings of despair, sorrow and loneliness. They always come together at a funeral and it always brings me back to that day and the shame I keep hidden away, deep within me. As they start to creep up to the forefront of my mind, Ryszard sends me feelings of love and acceptance like no one else could. He understands me so much better than anyone I have ever met and probably always would.

All of the eyes are mostly staying on the front of the procession and Nasuada. Sometimes they would sweep over the rest of us in the line. We make our way up to the top of raised stage and stand in a row. Ryszard sits to the side of the stage beside me. Before us on a lower level is Ajihad's body dressed in his best battle gear.

The first one to make a speech is King Hrothgar. It goes down the line until it is my turn and I step forward to the podium.

Taking a deep breath, I start, "I did not know Ajihad for a long time before the battle. But from the day I had met him he was a swift and just leader. He always listened to what people had to say and never took their words for granted. There was never a minute in his presence I got the feeling he thought he was better than anybody. He looked at all of those around him as equals. Ajihad was the epitome of what a leader should be to their people.

"Ajihad did what was right for his people and never did anything for a selfish pleasure. He taught me what a great leader was supposed to do and act and I will never forget that. He has instilled in me a feeling of pride in the Varden and as such if you ever have a problem that I can help with I will always come to your aid.

"Ajihad will always live on in our memories. He had a persona of dignity and calm that few others will ever be able to procure. For him, Ryszard and I will always remember."

A giant roar starts up as I make that declaration. Chants of Shadeslayer start up around the room and go on for many minutes. I give a final nod to the crowd and return to my spot beside Murtagh who gives me a wry smirk and whispers, "You sure know how to give a speech."

The next one to step up is Nasuada. She is the last in line for speeches. While she talks my mind drifts off to the past and the small funeral Garrow had gotten. It was only Roran, Brom, myself and some other people from town that had been close to him. It was nothing fancy with thousands of people that would give their lives for him. Roran had dug a hole and had made a simple wooden casket. Few things had been said and everyone left after the dirt was back on top. I had stayed all night long just sitting in front of his grave. I didn't cry or talk, all I did was sit and stare until Brom had come for me. He took me back to my house and let me sleep in my old room one last night while he sat in the main room.

Focusing back on Nasuada who was finishing her speech, I wonder how she is truly dealing with his death. She is putting up a strong front but there is no way to completely push aside the death of a loved one and the feelings that surround it.

She wrapped up her speech and the crowd was silent for a second before they started to clap louder and louder. Her speech didn't make them cheer and yell. It made them cry and reflect on the man they had lost. They grieved with her and laughed with her. I can see that I made the right choice with giving her my vote of confidence.

After she finishes up her speech, she walks over to Ajihad's body and takes a red gladioli from a girl standing there and places it on his chest. The rest of us on stage follow her and do the same. We walk back up to the stage and whoever else from the crowd comes up and pays their respects to Ajihad's body and Nasuada.

Almost everyone that is in attendance comes up to do so. We stand up there for hours as the line goes on. When it finally comes to an end, all the emotions of the day have taken a toll on me and all I want to do is curl up in a ball and rest with Ryszard.

Just as everyone is exiting the room, I hear someone call my name. Turning around, I see it is Angela who is being followed by Solembum. I give her a small smile and ask, "What can I do for you Angela?"

She holds out her hand which holds a small book, more like a journal by the look, and says, "Solembum insisted upon me to give you this. Not that he would tell me why, of course."

Taking it out of her hands, I place it under my arm and nod at them both and say, "Thank you, I always love a good book."

Angela just smiles at me and continues on her way. I glance over to Kierin and tap on his shields. He looks at me and opens up. I ask him, "Can you come back to my rooms with me?"

He replies that he can and turns back to his conversation with King Hrothgar. Soon after they wrap it up and give their farewells to each other. He makes his way over to me where I am standing by Ryszard and says, "Let's go. We should stop by the kitchen and get something to eat though."

I nod and we slowly walk through the now deserted halls. Ryszard heads back up to our room as we head for some food. The tunnels seem eerily quiet to me with the circumstances of the day. My body seems to be going on automatic right now. We reach the kitchen and Kierin gets two bowls of soup for us to eat. He carries them on the way to my room. So late at night it is, the tunnels are filled with a coldness that seems to wrap itself around me. The dress I am wearing does nothing to abate it and I let loose a shiver as we reach my door. I open the door for Kierin who is holding the bowls of soup. I set the book on my desk and then we make our way to the couch and I set the fire. Turning to the couch, I sit down and lean against his side to feel that he is there.

Thinking back to all my other failed relations and how I could never open up to any of them, I wonder what it was about Kierin that makes me want to spill all of my deepest, darkest secrets. Since I met him, I was instantly drawn to him. He made me feel as if I was not being judged and safe for once in my life. We eat in silence as I think about these things. Ryszard lands on the ledge back from his own meal when we set our bowls down.

I lead the way back to my bedroom as I untie the sash keeping my dress tight. I grab a loose fitting shirt I have and let the dress slip off. Pulling the shirt I have on, I pick the dress up and put it to the side so that I can wash it later. Turning around I see that Kierin has taken off his shirt and is setting it off to the side on a small chair.

I take his hand and walk over to my bed. Laying down so that my back is to Ryszard, Kierin lays so that he is facing me. Letting out a sigh, I rest my head on his chest and curl up to his side. He wraps his arm around me and rubs my arm as we slay in silence.

When I finally do speak I say, "What happens when an elf dies?"

He thinks for a second and says, "As in do we give them a funeral like today?" I nod and he continues, "Elves do not die of old age so it doesn't happen that frequently, but when it does we traditionally bury them in the ground. The family and close friends will give speeches and recount loving and fun moments with them. It is a truly sad time though because usually elves are killed by another or by war."

His words make sense to me. I never knew that elves could live on as if time didn't exist though. I just thought they lived longer than the regular human. Now that I am a rider and have bound with Ryszard, I will be in the same boat, having to die at someone else's hand.

He lets out a sigh and says, "When my dad died everyone came. Just like today, but the thing is with some elves, they don't come out of their homes. Some go off and live outside of the cities in the wilderness of the forest. They never come into Ellesmera. More elves than I could ever remember had come to honor my father. It made me see how much every elf trusted and loved my father.

"That was the day I knew I didn't want to be King. I didn't want all of these people to look up at me and have to make decisions on if they were going to live and die. While I saw the devotion they had to my father, I never wanted to be in charge of them. I told Arya first. She understood me the most out of everyone at the time. She very rarely questioned me and always stood by my side. After her, I told my mother. It was perhaps thirty years after my father died," he paused and took a deep breath, "She didn't understand. She has always loved being in a high position and being able to make change happen. She couldn't understand that anyone wouldn't want to be King, let alone her own son. When I told her of my decision of becoming the Elven Ambassador, she banished me from her sight until the time came that I had seen her way."

My mind is going in circles trying to understand how a mother could do that to her son. I realise that he never changed his mind so I ask him, "You haven't been back since you left have you?"

His voice is sad as he shakes his head and says, "No. I haven't stepped foot in Du Weldenvarden since I left seventy years ago. I keep in touch with Arya through letters and I send missives to my mother as well but never in a familiar setting, always business like," he starts to run a hand through my hair and continues, "I know Arya feels trapped there as well now. She always talks about leaving and traveling the other lands. But I know if she isn't given a push she will never go against mother."

He falls into silence now so I ask him, "How do you feel about going home? It can't be easy for you after all this time."

He is silent for some time as he keeps running his fingers through my hair. It is making me tired but I love the feeling and want to hear his response.

"It's not," he says, "I don't know how I will react to seeing my mother again. I don't know if she will accept me or turn me away." I know nothing to say to this so I fall into silence. After some time we both fall asleep; him presumably with thoughts of his return to his childhood home and I with the family that had left me one way or another.


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: This chapter contains sexual content. If you do not like this or are not 18 years of age or older, do not read. The scenes will be marked at the start and stop.**

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Chapter 10

All through the night, I wake up constantly plagued by nightmares of Garrow and Roran blaming me for Garrow's death. I finally have enough when I wake up for what has to be the tenth time and lay there watching both Ryszard and Kierin sleeping. Ryszard is as quiet as ever with his chest slowly rising and falling. His nose twitches once and he opens one of his eyes to stare at me.

He looks at me for a while and then says, "I will always be with you, Haven. You could not have known that would have happened that day. You were just learning how to control your powers and had no idea the effect of what you said would do. You didn't truly want it to happen, you were young and foolish with no training. No one has the right to blame you for what happened that day, not even yourself," Ryszard declares to me in a voice that is stern and soft at the same time.

I let out a breath and gave him a soft smile as I send him my love. He slowly gets up and walks over to the opening and jumps into the sky. At this moment, Kierin takes a deep breath and opens his eyes to look at me.

Giving him a small smile, I stand up and walk over to the small table by the bed that has a pitcher of water and a glass. I pour it to the top and move back over to Kierin who has sat up and is leaning against the side of the wall. I hand him the glass and sit down by his side as he wraps his arm around my shoulder as I lean into him and let out a deep breath.

We sit in silence until the sun has risen over the cave opening and illuminates the room. Kierin gets up first and goes over to a chair with his clothes. He puts his shirt back on and reattaches his belt with his sword. I stand up as well and walk over to him. He turns to me and wraps his arms around my waist as I wrap mine around his neck.

Kierin ducks down and places a gentle kiss on my lips. It last for a couple minutes but neither of us really has the energy or time to carry on with it. Letting out a sigh I say, "You better get going now. The coronation is to start in a couple hours and we need to look presentable." I run my fingers through his hair and watch as his eyes flutter shut.

His lips turn down into a frown as he processes my words. After a couple more seconds, he squeezes my hips lightly and opens his eyes to look in mine as he nods his head, "I'll shall see you later then," he says to me.

I give him a nod and say, "Yes."

Nodding his head at me he places a chaste kiss on my lips and drops his arms. He says, "I'll see you in a little bit," as he walks into my office and through the door.

I turn around and find Ryszard sitting on the edge of the opening looking at me. I jump not expecting to find him there for I had not heard or seen him come back. He lets out a laugh and starts to lick his talons, "I got back a few minutes ago. Though you both seem to not be aware of that fact as you were pressed together."

His tone is amused and it brings a flush to my checks as I turn towards the bathroom and tell him, "If it had only gone further than you wouldn't be there laughing at me."

He lets out a laugh and settles down to wait for me. I start the bath and take my time cleaning my body and hair making sure everything is clean. Drying everything off, I move back into the bedroom and pick out another dress I have that is a soft purple color and drapes down over me. The top of the dress has jewels flowing down from around my neck to the bodice. I had fallen in love with it the second I had walked by the window it was being showcased in. The seamstress that had made it in Carnise was truly one of the best I had come across. Though she had wanted a hefty amount for it, I could not pass it up. I styled my hair so that the left side was up in a braid that traveled the side of my head and the right side was just pulled back and all of it was braided into a bun at the back.

Looking at the finished product I gave myself a nod and turned to Ryszard who was lazily watching me from his perch. I sent him emotions wondering if he thought it looked good.

He let out a huff and said, "Yes, you look good. Now stop worrying about that, you always do."

I scowled at him as he turned away from me and watched the sky. Shaking my head at him, I turned towards my study to wait for Brom to arrive. I sit behind the desk and pick up the book Angela had given me the day before. Opening it up, I see that it was a journal written in Deutsch. Reading the first couple of pages is an introduction that leaves me breathless.

The journal belongs to a Siren named Lozen. Her parents where Sirens as well and she lived around three hundred years ago. Supposedly back then, when Sirens turn sixteen years old, they are given a right of passage where they travel on land and live with humans for two years. Lozen talks about how when she had changed forms, her eyes had changed as well from the purple that all female Sirens possessed and the males changed from gold in their true forms.

I sit back and think how I can see if this is true. I could ask Ryszard if he could watch me as I transformed and then tell me. But we would have to find a place to do that where no one would see us so that was out. Thinking about it I came to the decision that I could tell Kierin about that fact about me. The thought frightens me for I have never let another person know that about me. The only ones that know are Ryszard and Solembum and they rarely ever talk to anybody.

Putting it to the back of my mind when I have more time to think about it I decide to finish the rest of the chapter. The only other thing of note I could find was that Sirens are very sexual creatures that would not settle for just anyone. Which is way Sirens go to land for two years. When they found their mate they would always stay loyal to them. In some cases, a Siren and their mate would still go into another's bed but never without the other. Some Sirens would even take two mates. There was only a handful of these cases that Lozen recorded and all of them where when a Siren took two elves as their mates.

I set the journal down gently as my mind gets distracted by all this new information. Sitting back in the chair, I want to know how a Siren mates and how they choose their mates or even if they have a choice. What would this mean for me? I have already been with multiple people before, so it can't be the first person you have sex with.

Just when I reach for the book again, a knock sounds out from my door. Startled slightly as I have lost track of the time and what was about to happen, I shake my head to dispel my thoughts and try to calm down. Marking the page I left off, I straighten my desk somewhat and head for the door. Stopping in front of it, I take a deep breath and open it.

As expected there is Kierin standing on the other side looking as handsome as ever. His hair is neatly in place and his navy blue tunic is tucked into a pair of black pants. Looking back up at his face, he has a slight smile dancing on his lips as he looks over me that speaks more of his feelings than some of the words I have ever heard. Seeing it, all of the words from the journal return back to the forefront of my mind and I know that no matter what, I will never let this being go. He has stirred something in me that no one has ever done. Knowing this, my stress all but disappears and I resolve to tell him about being a Siren the next time we are alone together and have the time.

"You look beautiful, Haven. Truly," Kierin says, bringing me back to the present. I give him a smile as he steps forward and places a soft kiss on my lips.

"Thank you, you look amazing as well," I respond. Walking out of my rooms, I turn and close the door as Ryszard lets me know he will be waiting for us down below by the chamber the coronation would take place. Kierin and I walk arm in arm downwards in silence, both content at the moment. As we pass the place that the Isidar Mithrim used to stand, I frown at the loss of something so mighty.

"Maybe there is something we can do. Why not try?" Ryszard says to me as he hears the thought run through my mind. Thinking more on it, I don't see how it could hurt anyone to give it a shot.

Making up my mind, I turn to Kierin and say, "Ryszard and I would like to try to fix Isidar Mithrim. Do you think it would be possible to do it before we leave tomorrow morning?"

One of his eyebrows raises as he hears what we want to do. His expression turns to thoughtful before he slowly nods his head and says, "I don't see why not. You will most likely have to talk to Orik or King Hrothgar about gathering all the remains but it should be possible with a dragon," his head tilts to the side and he gives me a look as he asks me, "Why do you want to put it back together again?"

I shrug and look forward again as I respond, "It used to be a magnificent point of pride for the dwarves. Something they could look at and know that without a doubt nothing would ever outshine this masterpiece. When Ryszard smashed it during the battle, I know they understood why it had to happen, but we still feel regret from taking it away from them."

Kierin lets out a huff of laughter and says, "Only you, Haven. You surprise me everyday I have known you from that first time you killed someone in the eye with your throwing knife to know when your kindness shines through in moments like this." He places a soft kiss on the top of my head and gives my arm a soft squeeze just as we approach the room the coronation will take place in.

Ryszard is sitting against the far wall that the throne is placed by, a few pace to the left and more into the shadows. Brom is standing close to him and so is Orik, which makes me pick up my pace slightly, wanting to ask him about fixing the gem. We make our way through all the bodies of the Varden who have packed themselves into the room so they can see the crowning of Nasuada. Once we finally make our way to them, Kierin starts Brom in a conversation as I greet Orik, "Orik, there is something that Ryszard and I have been meaning to ask you."

He gives me a slight smile and says, "Of course, what can I do for you two?"

Looking up at Ryszard gives me strength to say, "When Ryszard broke the Isidar Mithrim during the battle we know it was necessary but would like to try to fix it if we can. I was wondering if you could have all the pieces put roughly back together in the same room it was first at. We believe we should try to at least give something back to the dwarves for all of the hospitality they have shown us here."

All through my speech his face had first went to sad and then progressed into a hopeful look, as if he didn't hope to believe what I was saying was true. Rapidly nodding his head, he says, "Of course, I will give the orders as soon as the coronation is done and we will work through the night to have the pieces put together by daybreak tomorrow!" he exclaims in glee. He rushes off to give the orders for all the work that will no doubt be preoccupying his mind tonight.

At that moment, horns are blown to let us know that it is time for the ceremony to begin. I walk over to Ryszard, who has come more out of the shadows to stand proudly by the throne. Turning toward the crowd, I see all the faces turn towards the huge double doors in the front of the room. They slowly swing out to show Nasuada standing there looking strong and proud. You can tell by her face that all is not right in the world, for if we are having a coronation, that means someone had to depart us beforehand.

She gracefully walks down the aisle towards the throne, staring stonily at all that it represents. The childhood she will have to throw away for the responsibilities of a leader who just lost her father.

Right before she reaches the throne, a man in a white robe steps forward with a simple crown of silver and black. He prompts her to start making her vows of service and swearing her in as the next leader of The Varden.

After about twenty or so minutes of this he finally places the crown on her head and steps back. Nasuada rises easily from where she is kneeling and turns to face the crowd. All of the sudden, a roar takes over the room as all the subjects let known their feelings towards the new leader. People clap and yell while men place their children on their shoulders so they can see the celebrations take place around them.

All of theses people surrounding me, are pushing away the sorrow and loss from the last few days and taking in the joy and triumph that Nasuada's coronation brings. Nasuada stands in front of all these people with a small smile on her face and a straight back.

Finally the ceremony is done and we convene into another room that houses tables and food with room to dance in the middle. Walking in, I am directed to a table close to the main one where Nasuada, King Hrothgar and the council will sit. Ryszard fits into the corner between the two tables and Kierin, Brom and Murtagh take seats with me. Food is brought out by servers and placed on all of the tables for us to enjoy. We all dig into the steaming meats and seasoned vegetables. Mead is brought around to everyone old enough to drink and few don't accept it.

Everyone at our table is letting go and having a good time for we know what is to come in the next years and there might not be a chance to celebrate like this again for some time. Murtagh and Kierin are softly whispering to each other while slowly looking around the room and up to the main table. Quirking an eyebrow, I decide to not listen in and turn my attention to Brom beside me who is fondly smiling out at the room.

"What's on your mind?" I ask him. I haven't seen that look on his face very often. The only times I have, are when I accomplished something amazing and very hard.

He looks over to me with a small smile on his face and says, "After all these years, it is strange to see how much the Varden has changed. In the beginning, it was just a ragtag team of people hungry for vengeance against the forsworn and Galbatorix. It is astounding to me how much that has changed and what we have accomplished."

Nodding my head, I say, "It is definitely something to be proud of now. Lets just hope our luck keeps running and we win more battles against the Empire."

His smile slips slightly and his brow furrows as he glances at Murtagh quickly. I arch my eyebrow and look at him with expectant written all over my face. He frowns a little and lets out a small sigh, then says, "When you and Kierin leave for Ellesmera tomorrow, Murtagh and I will leave as well."

My confusion must show on my face as Brom says, "This is what I wanted to talk to you about." He lets out a sigh and stares into nothing as he resumes, "When the blue egg was stolen years ago, the thief only took one, but there was three. He got spooked and left without the other two. They are in Uru'baen, where the King sits. With the help of Murtagh, who knows the layout of the castle better than anyone else we know, and my knowledge of its secret passage, we are going to try to steal the last two eggs. It will not be easy and will most likely take some time to plan it all out."

My eyes slid shut halfway through his speech and my lips were pursed. I knew the truth in his words but that did not mean I liked it. Brom, who I have looked at as my father and mentor most of my life and just recently learned was actually my father, would be leaving the safe shelter of the Varden and traveling to King Galbatorix in secret to steal two of the most valuable possessions he has.

A great sigh moves my body as I open my eyes and look back at Brom and say, "Just be careful. I understand why you have to do this and what it means for everything, but that doesn't mean I like it. I would rather hear you took longer and achieved success than rushing in and dieing."

Brom snorts into his glass of mead and shoots me a look as if to say 'You have known me for how many years now?'

The night goes on in merry and I dance with all of the men brave enough to ask. Murtagh asked me later in the night when everyone was well into their cups and full on food. He leads me around and seems to be concentrating on the dance but his eyes would every once in awhile slide over to Nasuada, who sits at the high table and is in a conversation with one of the council members. I smile fondly at him and ask, "Is this new or something that has been going on for awhile?"

He jerks his head around to look back around at me and looks sheepish, "She would seek me out when I first got here. She was one of the only people who would actually talk to me and it be genuine. I haven't been able to talk to her for a couple days now since the battle with everything going on," he tells me.

I guess that makes since then, I haven't really seen a lot of Murtagh with all of the meetings that I had to attend. Someone must have reached out to him. "We'll you never know what might happen. Just don't give up on something because you might think it is out of your reach," I say with a smile on my face.

He grins back at me and says, "I'll remember that, I hope you have a good time with the elves."

"And you with your trip as well," I reply. Just as the music ends, Kierin steps up to us.

"May I have this dance?" he asks. Murtagh dips his head and hands over me to him.

Smiling at him, I say, "I thought you would never come over here."

His lips curl up slightly as he says, "I got stuck in a conversation with one of the council members. They were rather persistent."

We contently twirl around the floor for a while just getting lost in each other. After sometime, a big commotion stops us and we look over to see Ryszard clumsily swaying around in his corner with multiple barrels empty of mead around him.

My eyes slowly close shut in exasperation before I start my way over to him with Kierin beside me.

People are chuckling at Ryszard but keep on with their dancing and drinking all the same. When I reach him, he is slightly swaying his head to the beat of the music. "Ryszard," I say. "Maybe it is time we go back to the rooms. We need to be up rather early tomorrow as it is."

He lets out a huff and slowly moves to his feet and tells me, "]I guess you are right. Though this mead is one of the best things I have ever had. Why haven't you ever gotten me some before?" He practically whines to me at the end as if it was a travesty.

Slowly we walk out of the hall as people make the space for him. The walk is longer than usual for Ryszard has to concentrate more on the path before him and not knocking into anything. We finally reach the dragon keep so that he can fly up to our room. Kierin and I decide to walk up the rest of the way for I wasn't sure it was the best idea for us to fly with Ryszard right now in his state.

The walk is taken in silence for it seems both of our minds are elsewhere. I can't help but worry about Brom and Murtagh, for their mission would a lot more dangerous than mine. They would be going straight into enemy territory right after we just won a battle against them. They might not be expecting something so bold from us right now when they thinking we are taking time to reveal in our victory but it still would not be easy.

I shake these thoughts away as we make it to my room and I open the door to let us in. I peek inside the bedroom to see if Ryszard made it back in one piece. He is curled up on his cushion fast asleep most likely dead to the world. I walk back into my study to see Kierin leaning against the desk with his arms crossed looking over the contents of my desk, which was just books scattered around, mostly written in Deutsch.

He looks back up when I walk back in the room and lets his arms drop to his sides. "You're going to have to teach me Deutsch soon for I still have no idea what any of this says," he tells me as he walks over to stand in front of me.

I chuckle and say, "Of course, maybe on our way to Ellesmera we may begin. We will have a whole lot of time on our hands during the trip," as I wind my arms around his neck and play with the short hairs there.

***SMUT***

He places his hands on my hips and brings me closer to him as he takes a step forward as well. "We will won't we. I guess we should do something productive during that time," he says as he starts to place small kisses on the side of my neck.

I let out a hum as he trails to the other side and gives a little nip on my pulse. My hands tighten slightly in his hair and a groan slips out of my mouth as it drops open. He moves straight back to my mouth with a hunger. He doesn't wait anytime to plunder my mouth with his. His tongue makes quick work of getting mine to play with him as one of his hands snakes up into my hair and tilt my head as he continues to steal my breath from me. I have to break away soon after, for most of my air has left me. Kierin bites at my bottom lip and pulls it slightly out.

Whatever breath I had left leaves me in a moan as my body weakens and my eyes pop open to stare into his. He is looking straight at me with a hunger that thrills me. We just stand there for a couple seconds making sure that this is what we want before I take a step back and reach up to let my hair down while I kick off the small boots I had on. Kierin hardly looks away from me as he bends down to unlace his boots and kick them over beside my desk.

He walks over to me with a prowess that invokes something in me that makes me feel tingles go through my body. I turn around and present him the clasp that keeps my dress up. His fingers make quick work and slowly lets it drop to the floor around me.

All that I have on now is some underwear and nothing else for my dress was sheer at my shoulders and I couldn't wear a bra with the dress. His hands slowly trailed down my back and to my underwear. He hooks his fingers in the side of them and drags them down my hips till they drop to the floor. I turn around to face him and start to pull his shirt up and over his head. His hands can't keep still on my skin as they trace from my back to my thighs. Everywhere they go it brings tingles to the surface of my skin.

Our lips meet again as I start on his pants. We fight for dominance now as we both feel the passion build up and come to the surface. He ultimately wins and his tongue traces everything it can as my hands finally get his pants open and start to push them down and off his hips. I break the kiss as I slowly go down to my knees with his pants as I keep my eyes on his. He steps out of his pants and lightly cups one of my cheeks as I lightly grasp his erection. I break eye contact to look down at his dick that is pulsing in my hand.

My hand starts to pump him slowly as I bite my lip and look back up at him. His eyes are hooded and his lips parted. I move my hand up to his head and grasp it softly, not putting any pressure on it at all. Keeping eye contact, my lips slowly start to kiss and lick the bottom of his dick and travel up. Once I reach his head, I let my tongue come out and go all around.

I glance back up at Kierin and see his eyes have fallen shut. His mouth is parted and little breaths are escaping him. His hand is weaved in my hair, niether pulling or pushing, just keeping contact with me.

My focus turns back down and I decide to stop teasing him and get going. My lips engulf his head and slowly suck while moving back and forth. Kierin's hand tightens slightly in my hair and his eyes open abruptly to look back down at me.

I take my time going up and down, deeper and deeper down his dick making sure everything is as slick as possible. My mouth is making obscene noises as I start to take him all the way down my throat until my nose is settled in his pubic hair.

"Fuck, Haven," I hear Kierin mumble above me. His head is tilted back and he keeps swallowing, as if something is caught in his throat.

I close my eyes and go back to it, slowly letting him out and then back down again repeatedly. Little groans and moans are coming from Kierin and I can tell he is getting close. Deep throating him once more, I slowly come off him and put both of my hands around him.

Taking sometime to get my breath back, I twist both of my hands in different directions as I descend back to his head. Giving it little kitten licks and then broader and broader. I take it back into my mouth and start to suck it while still moving my hands in opposite directions.

Kierin's feet start to shift around as his hand starts to flex in my hair. His hips are rocking back and forth just slightly and he warns me, "I'm close."

I suck a little harder and not ten seconds later his hip thrusts forward and he explodes. Above me he says my name as a moan and pants for air. He seems to come for a long time that some of it escapes down the side of my lips. I quickly wipe it off and suck it off my finger as I sit back on my heels. Looking back up at him, he is looking down at me with hunger still in his eyes as if his orgasm hadn't worn him out at all.

Standing back up onto my feet, he comes straight at me and catches me in a kiss. His lips hungrily devour mine as his tongue slips into my mouth. Both of his hands wrap around me, one goes to my ass and the other goes to my thigh, where he lifts it up and wraps it around his hip. His dick hasn't gone down much and brushes against my clit just enough to make me throw back my head and let out a moan. Kierin kneads my ass and moves down to my neck to leave little nips all along it.

I lightly push him away and look back to his face to see him looking at me with a confused face. "Can we move to the bed?" I ask breathlessly.

He backs up a step and lets my leg drop back down to the floor. He looks toward the open door that leads to the bedroom and asks me, "What about Ryszard? Is it not weird to have him in the same room?"

I shake my head and say, "He is dead to the world right now. All of that mead he drank will not wake him up for hours now."

Kierin nods his head and then takes my hand as he leads us through the door and to the bed. He keeps glancing over at Ryszard who is angled away from us and facing the opening, just how he was when we arrived. His shyness is amusing me so I ask him when he looks back at Ryszard again, "Are you shy to do it in here with him?"

He abruptly turns his head to look at me and then back to Ryszard, he finally says, "It's just I don't want to offend him if he wakes up and I'm in bed with you."

His answer amuses me enough that I let out a snort and shake my head at him. "Ryszard has been bugging me since I met you to just get on with it. He would be a hypocrite if he woke up to us and got angry," I tell him as I step closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck. I lean up to his ear and ask, "Now are we going to continue or am I going to have to finish by myself?" as I bite his earlobe and pull it in my mouth to lightly suck it.

His breath catches in his throat and he pulls back to look in my eyes as he backs us up to the edge of the bed. Putting one of his hands on my back, he leads me down onto the bed so my head is at the top. He stays right on top of me for a couple seconds staring into my eyes before he gives me a small smile. He drops down to give my neck small kisses and nips then moves down slightly. Kierin kisses a trail down to my breasts to place light kisses and occasionally nip every once in awhile. He circles my breasts, moving closer and closer toward my nipple before finally circling his tongue around it before lightly sucking it into his mouth. My left hand snakes into his hair to grip it and the other reaches up to the bed post to grab onto it. He steadily ups the pressure of his mouth before bringing his teeth in to run lightly over my nipple before letting it go and tracing his lips over to the opposite one to continue his routine.

My hips buck slightly with all the stimulation to my nipples and bump into his dick that is back to full hardness. Kierin backs off my nipples and starts to head down. His lips trace the muscles on my stomach and trails his tongue along them. He continues down lower until his mouth reaches my mound and the soft curls there. He places a soft and lingering kiss there before moving away.

He heads over to my thigh and moves it outwards more with his hand firmly before starting to trail his lips up and down it. He repeats the same process on the other thigh before moving back to my mound.

His eyes glance back up to mine to see me gripping the bed post as if it was a life line. He gives me a small smile and keeps his eyes connected to mine as he moves his hand to grasp my thigh and move it farther out of the way so he has space to comfortably lay down. A small whimper leaves my lips as his hand makes its way up to my mound. He keeps his eyes on my face as he slowly starts to move his hand in slow circles over all of me. My breath hitches and my hips arch into him just a little before settling back down on the bed.

Kierin lets out a groan as he keeps this up and says, "You are soaked, Haven. Have you been like this all night?"

Another whimper leaves me and I say softly, "Ever since I got on my knees for you."

His hand stops for a second before continuing and he whispers, "You have no idea how arousing that is." His voice has gotten deeper and he places a kiss on my hip before he replaces his hand and starts to move two of his fingers up and down my slit. They travel from above my clit to my ass multiple times, swirling around each before moving on.

His torture is killing me as much as it is exciting me. On one pass, he stops at my opening and slowly adds one of his finger. My breath hitches and a low moan leaves me as I arch my back slightly. It feels great to have someone else bringing me pleasure again. Once he feels I am ready, he adds another but doesn't change the speed.

My head falls back at the feeling so I don't see when he dips his head down and his lips clasp around my clit. He doesn't suck at me but just lightly licks it. I can feel myself start to build up to an orgasm that I know is going to be a big one. My hips start to slowly circle and grind into his face. He starts to move his fingers faster and sucks on my clit.

Moans start to fall out of my mouth as my hearing focuses just on my heart beating fast and the blood rushing through my veins. All of the sudden it crashes all down on me. I can feel myself contract around his fingers and then all I know is absolute weightlessness as my veins feel as if warmth is rushing through them. My eyes are clenched shut but I see a bright light behind them. I come to slowly to feel my hips slowly rotating still.

Going boneless everything of mine falls back to the bed as I stare up at the ceiling. Kierin slowly withdraws his fingers from me and I glance down at him to see him stick them in his mouth to lick them clean. It stirs something in me again and all I want right now is him inside me. He crawls back over me holding himself up with his elbows on either side of my head. I take his lips and kiss him hungrily, trying to taste whatever is left of myself that is in his mouth.

His hand grasps my right thigh and pulls it over his hips to get himself in a better position and pulls back from my lips to look in my eyes. I can see the hunger and lust that still preside in his eyes, but I also see something else. I'm not sure if it is love yet but I know he cares for me very deeply in that moment. I wrap my other leg around his hips and trail my hand down his side.

Kierin gives me a smile before he reaches down and grasps his cock. He lightly runs it up and down my slit to make sure it is wet before positioning it at my opening. Taking his hand away, he dips forward slowly until his head goes in me. My head falls back down to the bed but my eyes stay connected to his as he starts to rock his hips moving slowly in and out, going deeper every time he comes back.

Little pants starts to leave my mouth as I rock my hips up into his, trying to match the rhythm he has set. Kierin moves down so his mouth is on my neck and places little nips right behind my ear. I let my head fall to the side and grasp his sides. A rather loud moan leaves me as he simultaneously bites down on my neck and gives a powerful thrust. He continues to give slow powerful thrusts while sucking on my neck.

I arch my back and give as good as I get, my hips are meeting his every time he thrust in. When he slowly pulls back, I tighten my muscles around him to keep him in. His breath hitches slightly when I do until he quickens his thrust slightly.

Kierin moves his head back up to look me in the eye as he scoots his hips down slightly but keeps mine in place. He places one of my feet back on the bed and holds onto the other thigh as he puts his hand back by my head.

When he starts again, all I can do is arch my back and open my mouth wordlessly as he hits a spot in me that feels as if I'm having a small orgasm every time. My hand goes up to hold onto his shoulder to anchor myself to him as I get lost in the sensation of him. I open my eyes back up to see him trailing his back up my body from where we are connected. They stop at my breasts that are bouncing from the powerful thrusts of his, before finally reaching my gaze. His rhythm doesn't falter once in all of this.

I can feel myself building up and my breath quickening. My eyes start to flutter as Kierin starts to up the speed of his thrusts once more. I try to keep my gaze on him as I feel a fluttering and heat right behind my clit before everything explodes in a shower of burning passion and desire. I gasp out, "Kierin," and feel my walls surrounding my powers come down as I see his mouth open and let out a moan before his hips stutter to a stop and slowly grind into me. His head dips down as he rides through his orgasm. As soon as I have the brain power to I bring my walls back up as fast as I can so nothing bad happens.

All of my limbs feel numb and won't respond to me right now. Kierin lets out a low groan before looking back up to me as he slowly lowers my leg back to the bed and gives me a kiss as he slowly slips out of me. I bring my hand up to his hair and run it slowly through it as we kiss softly. He pulls back and rolls onto his back. I go with him and draped myself across his chest. He lightly traces patterns around my back as we bask in the pleasure we are both feeling. He grabs the blanket and puts it over the both of us.

***END SMUT***

I can feel myself start to drift into sleep when I hear Kierin say, "Haven?"

I hum to let him know I heard me and continue to stretch out on top of him.

He is quiet for a second before asking, "Can I ask you something?"

There is a hesitance in his voice that gives me pause. I prop my head up on his chest and look into his eyes. His brow is furrowed and he quietly says, "When you came and were looking into my eyes, your eyes turned purple before you closed them. Normally I wouldn't have come just then, but it felt as if something pushed me into it." He pauses for a second before asking, "Does that have anything to do with your powers?"

My mind is reeling with what he has said. I never knew that could happen. My muscles tense and I close my eyes trying to think of the best way to explain it to Kierin. I never thought this would be the moment I would tell him.

He must have felt me tense up because he says, "You don't have to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable about."

I shake my head slightly and sit up, scooting to sit back against the headboard. He arranges himself similarly and takes my hand in his I have been fidgeting with. "I was going to tell you the next time we had an opportunity but I guess now will do," I tell him.

"My powers aren't just about my voice, that's just a side effect. When I found Ryszard, I also found something else. I was taking a bath in a lake right beside the palace with all of these fish swimming beside me. All I could think about was wanting to be like them, free to swim wherever they wanted," I take a deep breath before continuing, "Next thing I know, instead of two legs, I have a fish tail. When I could finally get it to change back, I rushed off to find answers. In the Palace, they have a huge library of knowledge that I was certain would tell me what had happened." Glancing at him, I see shock on his face and rush to finish. "After looking through everything I could find, I came across something that made the most since. It was a journal from a fishermen from Kiavin, a fishing port back in Altaria. It spoke about one of his trips into the surrounding islands. One day with fog everywhere, he spotted something on the shore and moved closer to find out what it was. He found a woman with the upper body of a human and a tail from a fish. He had struck up a conversation with her and she had told him what she was, a Siren. They can be born from other Sirens but there are cases of Sirens being born from regular humans and awakening their powers. Sirens can turn willingly into both forms, they manifest their magic through their voice which is what you know so far. The female's eyes change to purple and the male's turn to gold. I still don't know everything about them and some days it just takes me by surprise, like when my eyes changed when I came. I only thought that happened when I shifted forms."

I glance over at Kierin and see him looking at me with curious eyes. He tells me, "I can tell why you didn't tell me, that might not have gone over fairly well with everyone. Do you think you can show me what you mean about a tail the next time we are alone?"

A smile slowly grows on my face before I reach over to give him a kiss. Pulling back I smile at him and say, "Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me."

He smiles back and lays back down on the bed with me again. He kisses my head and before we fall asleep he says, "I'll never judge you on something you can't control, Haven. You never have to worry about that."


End file.
